An Extended Study of Search User Interface Design Focused on Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions

Abstract

Geert Hofstede’s classic cultural model has been studied and applied to website design for a number of years. In this paper we examine if Geert Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions can also be applied to search user interface design. Two user studies have been conducted to evaluate the culturally designed search user interfaces, and the findings are reported in this paper. Our first study comprised of 148 participants from different cultural backgrounds. The second study was smaller with 25 participants, also from different cultural backgrounds. The results from these studies have been analyzed to ascertain if Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are suitable for understanding users’ preferences for search user interface design. Whilst the key findings from these studies suggest Hofstede cross-cultural dimensions can be used to model users’ preferences on search interface design, further work is still needed for particular cultural dimensions to reinforce the conclusions.