The Impact of Cultural Customization on the Ease of Use of Global Companies’ Web Sites

The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of the degree to which global companies’ web sites are adapted to local culture, i.e. cultural customization on web sites, on local consumers’ ease of use of the web sites. We also examine the moderating effect of regulatory focus on the impa...

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Main Authors: Mai Kikumori, Ryuta Ishii
Format: Article
Language:Japanese
Published: Japan Marketing Academy 2020-06-01
Series:Maketingu Janaru
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/marketing/40/1/40_2020.035/_html/-char/en
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author Mai Kikumori
Ryuta Ishii
author_facet Mai Kikumori
Ryuta Ishii
author_sort Mai Kikumori
collection DOAJ
description The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of the degree to which global companies’ web sites are adapted to local culture, i.e. cultural customization on web sites, on local consumers’ ease of use of the web sites. We also examine the moderating effect of regulatory focus on the impact of cultural customization on web sites. We perform a content analysis of Japanese websites for American companies and conduct a consumer survey. The results of the empirical analysis show that cultural customization has a positive impact on perceived presentation and navigation on the web sites, and that promotion focus enhances the positive impact of cultural customization. These results imply that global companies should reflect local cultural values on their websites and that cultural customization is more effective for promotion-focused, rather than prevention-focused consumers.
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spelling doaj.art-2a72efb117394ad6b66b1d91ddcf7be82022-12-22T04:23:48ZjpnJapan Marketing AcademyMaketingu Janaru0389-72652188-16692020-06-01401566710.7222/marketing.2020.035marketingThe Impact of Cultural Customization on the Ease of Use of Global Companies’ Web SitesMai Kikumori0Ryuta Ishii1Faculty of Business and Administration, Ritsumeikan University, JapanFaculty of Economics, Fukui Prefectural University, JapanThe purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of the degree to which global companies’ web sites are adapted to local culture, i.e. cultural customization on web sites, on local consumers’ ease of use of the web sites. We also examine the moderating effect of regulatory focus on the impact of cultural customization on web sites. We perform a content analysis of Japanese websites for American companies and conduct a consumer survey. The results of the empirical analysis show that cultural customization has a positive impact on perceived presentation and navigation on the web sites, and that promotion focus enhances the positive impact of cultural customization. These results imply that global companies should reflect local cultural values on their websites and that cultural customization is more effective for promotion-focused, rather than prevention-focused consumers.https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/marketing/40/1/40_2020.035/_html/-char/eninternational marketingstandardization and adaptatione-businessregulatory focuscontent analysis
spellingShingle Mai Kikumori
Ryuta Ishii
The Impact of Cultural Customization on the Ease of Use of Global Companies’ Web Sites
Maketingu Janaru
international marketing
standardization and adaptation
e-business
regulatory focus
content analysis
title The Impact of Cultural Customization on the Ease of Use of Global Companies’ Web Sites
title_full The Impact of Cultural Customization on the Ease of Use of Global Companies’ Web Sites
title_fullStr The Impact of Cultural Customization on the Ease of Use of Global Companies’ Web Sites
title_full_unstemmed The Impact of Cultural Customization on the Ease of Use of Global Companies’ Web Sites
title_short The Impact of Cultural Customization on the Ease of Use of Global Companies’ Web Sites
title_sort impact of cultural customization on the ease of use of global companies web sites
topic international marketing
standardization and adaptation
e-business
regulatory focus
content analysis
url https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/marketing/40/1/40_2020.035/_html/-char/en
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