Cultural representations in Web design: Differences in emotions and values

Abstract

Understanding cultural characteristics of websites is becoming increasingly important in a global context. Hofstede's theories are proposed as a framework for studying cultural differences in websites. An exploratory study based on Hofstede's Masculine-Feminine (MAS) dimension was conducted. We wanted to investigate differences in emotional expressions and values between homepages from countries with different MAS orientations. As emotion is an important aspect of Web design and subject to cultural differences, we wanted to see if users did perceive emotion variations between those homepages. Results from the study emphasize differences between sites belonging to the two MAS poles, both for values and emotions and, in particular, that different types of emotions were identified in relation to homepages.