Multicultural Commercial Websites: When Translating Might Not Be Enough

Description

The purchasing decisions of consumers on the Internet depend on the price and quality of the product, but also on a number of other factors that are clearly culture-related. One of these is the usability of the web site. The results of the present research show that the individually perceived user-friendliness increases when the web site was originally conceived in the native language of the user. Thus, translation, even though it may be of excellent quality, creates a cultural distance which impacts on the web users’ evaluation of the site. Conversely, where translation is of minor importance, such as in the evaluation of the quality of an offer, a consumer’s native language does not have an impact on the buying decision.

Period	27 Oct 2004
Event title	eChallenges
Event type	Other
Location	AustriaShow on map