Cultural user experience issues in e-government: Designing for a multi-cultural society

Abstract

This paper examines the influences of culture on the user experience of local e-government services. It investigates the hypothesis that citizens with different cultural backgrounds experience different problems when using e-government applications. Thirty participants with Moroccan, Surinamese and Dutch cultural backgrounds completed a short questionnaire for demographic purposes. Then, they were observed while using a local e-government website. After tasks were completed, a short interview investigated user experience issues in more depth. By referring to existing literature on cross-cultural values and norms, the possible origins of differences in user experience problems for the cultural groups were explored. The findings suggest that differences in user problems coincide with expectations about cultural characteristics derived from previous literature. The findings of this paper support the notion that users with different cultural backgrounds experience different user problems. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.