Exploring the Impact of Culture on the Design of Arabic Government Websites

Abstract

This study examines selected design characteristics of government Web interfaces from three Arab countries using Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Organizational and graphical elements from 30 ministry websites from Egypt, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia were examined using content analysis method. The results suggest that Hofstede’s model of culture does not fully reflect the design characteristics of these interfaces.Cette étude examine un ensemble de caractéristiques dans la conception d’interfaces Web de trois pays arabes, à l’aide des dimensions culturelles d’Hofstede. Les éléments organisationnels et graphiques de 30 sites Web de ministères de l’Égypte, du Liban et de l’Arabie saoudite ont été examinés au moyen d’une analyse de contenu. Les résultats suggèrent que le modèle culturel d’Hofstede ne se reflète pas exactement dans les caractéristiques de design de ces interfaces.

The influence of geospatial factors on democracy: Its representation on web interface design

“…Recently, in analyzing cultural similarities and differences in English‐language and Chinese‐language website designs from data collected on 223 Fortune Global 500 company websites, Chang () found that cultural differences exist in power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism/collectivism, and long‐term and short‐term dimensions. However, Khashman and Large (), while examining Arabic government websites with Hofstede's cultural dimensions, concluded that his cultural model is not fully reflected in the design characteristics of the websites examined.…”