Are Culturally Congruent Websites More Effective? An Overview of a Decade of Empirical Evidence

Abstract

The current paper reviews all high quality studies investigating the impact of the cultural congruency of websites on measures of website effectiveness. In order to be able to present a comprehensive overview of the findings, the various performance measures included in the different studies are integrated within the WEBQUAL framework Loiacono et al. 2007. Hypotheses are formulated and subsequently tested for the different effectiveness variables. Results are summarized using vote count and descriptive summary. The purpose is to generate robust conclusions, since the results of the individual studies are very scattered. The main conclusion is that the literature provides sound empirical support for the positive impact of cultural congruency on the performance measures usefulness, ease of use, positive attitudes, positive intentions, and overall effectiveness. For some performance measures, however, support for the positive effect of cultural congruity is weak or missing. Based on this comprehensive, in-depth overview, research gaps are identified and suggestions for further research are provided.