Enhancing understandability of process models through cultural-dependent color adjustments

Abstract

National culture influences natural language communication. Yet, semi-formal or documented communication media such as process models have largely ignored these influences. In process models, secondary notation elements such as colors, however, provides designers with visual cues to potentially increase the efficiency and effectiveness without changing the semantics of the model itself. We propose that colors are a promising mechanism in tailoring process models to meet cultural preferences in order to enhance understandability. We test this assumption through an experiment with postgraduate students from a Confucian culture (China) and a Germanic Culture (Germany and Austria). Past research has shown that people understand such models better if important elements are highlighted through colors. We hypothesize that this general design principle only works if the applied color schemes match cultural preferences while mismatches can even diminish the level of understanding. Our results show that colors that are preferred in Asian cultures aid process model understandability of Confucian participants. In contrast, diverse effects occur if models with these colors are provided to members of a Germanic culture. Based on our findings, we derive implications for the culturally appropriate presentation of conceptual process models and we emphasize a need to construct modeling studies with cultural values and norms in mind.

Comprehension of Procedural Visual Business Process Models

“…Color coding with bright colors lowers perceived difficulty for participants from a Confucian culture, but not for participants from a Germanic culture; this result may be related to a culture-dependent preference for bright colors in Asia, although color in general is not related to model comprehension in this study (Kummer et al 2016). In contrast, Reijers et al (2011a) find that syntax highlighting with colors for matching gateway pairs is positively related to novices' model comprehension, as it helped them identify relevant patterns of matching gateways, but the study finds no evidence that syntax highlighting improves experts' performance.…”

“…In contrast, Reijers et al (2011a) find that syntax highlighting with colors for matching gateway pairs is positively related to novices' model comprehension, as it helped them identify relevant patterns of matching gateways, but the study finds no evidence that syntax highlighting improves experts' performance. The inconsistency between the findings of Kummer et al (2016) and Reijers et al (2011a) may occur because of differences in the kinds of information that the studies highlight with color. For instance, Kummer et al (2016) color activity symbols, while Reijers et al (2011a) color-code gateway pairs that belong to each other, information that is more relevant to comprehension tasks.…”

“…The inconsistency between the findings of Kummer et al (2016) and Reijers et al (2011a) may occur because of differences in the kinds of information that the studies highlight with color. For instance, Kummer et al (2016) color activity symbols, while Reijers et al (2011a) color-code gateway pairs that belong to each other, information that is more relevant to comprehension tasks. Petrusel et al (2016) use taskspecific color highlighting of regions of model elements that are relevant to a comprehension task and find no evidence of reduced comprehension accuracy, although color highlighting lowers mental effort (measured by fixations and fixation durations in eye-tracking results) and time taken.…”

“…Studies find no evidence of an effect of self-assessment of previous modeling knowledge (Johannsen et al 2014;Reijers and Mendling 2011;Weitlaner et al 2013;Recker and Dreiling 2007), duration of involvement with business process modeling (Mendling and Strembeck 2008), self-assessment of process modeling experience Turetken et al 2016), intensity of work with process models (Mendling and Strembeck 2008), or modeling familiarity (Ottensooser et al 2012;Recker 2013;Kummer et al 2016) on model comprehension.…”

Integrated Modeling of Business Processes and Business Rules

“…Other factors affecting process model understanding include symbol color systems [76], syntax highlighting [131], label styles [96], label abstractness [37], and label length [97]. Symbol color systems use different colors for different symbols.…”