Website design, trust and culture: An eight country investigation

Please cite this article in press as: Cyr, D. Web dx.d oi.org/10.1016/j.elerap.20 13.03.0 07 User perceptions of website design (for Information Content, Information Design, Navigation Desig n, Visual Design), Website Trust, and Transaction Security are examined for differences in an eight country sample. Motivation for the investigat ion includ es: (1) to test and comp are user reactions to website design in countries with different degrees of uncertainty avoidance, (2) to consider user reactions based on country economic and technological conditions related to the theory of institutional trust and social capital, and (3) to extend clustering theory and the GLOBE cultural cluster model to determine if culturally similar countries group regarding user perceptions of websites. Overall and as predicted, users in low uncertainty avoidance, high institut ional trust and social capital countries such as Canada and the USA have the most favorabl e perceptions of website design. An interesting finding is that while country economic and technological conditions may temper user perceptions in some instances, overall culture is a stronger predictor. Clustering theory is a useful determina nt of user perceptions, and there is strong support that users within a given cultural cluster have similar requirements regarding website design. 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.