The influence of website design, culture and language on perceived web usability, satisfaction and perceived risk online

Abstract

The current markets globalization as a result of ICT development in general and the Internet in particular, have enhanced the importance of the websites design, which is a powerful communications medium for companies operating in international markets (Turban and Gehrek, 2000). The website of the company represents its image in the Internet as an intermediary with potential clients (Roy, Dewit and Aubert, 2001). Some researchers have found that much of the success of an e-service depends on website usability (Flavián, Guinalíu and Gurrea, 2006). Usability and appearance are two indicators that represent the utilitarian aspects of a website, together with its appeal. Those websites with a high level of usability in their design enable users to carry out their tasks coherently and achieve the results they expect (Palmer, 2000). In fact, this perception of control during the browsing process is positively related to the sensation of security and satisfaction (Diamantopoulos and Winklhofer, 2001; Casaló, Flavián and Guinalíu, 2008). In this international context, culture plays an increasingly relevant role in the use of information and communication technology. This is likely to affect how usability is understood, thus adding an additional factor to our understanding of culture´s effect on usability (Wallace, Reid, Clinciu and Kang, 2013). The importance of cultural factors in communications has been reinforced since the web can now link diverse regions and communities across the globe that were relatively isolated by time and space. The growth of global communications has increased and intensified the need for leaning to communicate successfully with a multitude of cultures. Regarding to these international situation, the crucial role of language in intercultural relations is widely acknowledged, with the words of a language being ‘symbols’ that acts as the vehicles for cultural transfer (Hofstede, 2001). The literature shows that the way in which a person processes information is conditioned by cultural values (Tavassoli, 2002). Furthermore, recent research has demonstrated that language is associated with cultural frameworks, such that communication in a given language can increase access to the cultural values associated with that language (Wong and Hong, 2005) and how users from the same culture, when processing information in different languages, obtain significantly different results in terms of perceived risk online (Alcántara-Pilar, Del Barrio-García and Porcu, 2013).