Introduction
In the present globalized world, targeting global consumers entails various tasks rather than focusing in website translation. Numerous international organizations portray the need for adapting design, which would reach distinct kinds of audiences, particularly due to the differences that prevail between cultures. A website with an amazing design might make or even break the success of an organization online while the message sent might vary based on the targeted audience. Communicating in an effective manner with international consumers might require more rather than just focusing on content translation. It requires thinking carefully of other aspects of design ranging from colors to navigation while putting into consideration the distinct cultural aspects of the people visiting the website (Moura, Singh, & Chun, 2016). The paper undertakes a literature review on web and cross-cultural communication highlighting the importance of how information is displayed in a web environment given a multicultural environment.
Literature Review
Since the commencement of international Web commercialization during the mid-1990s, organizations and users from differing cultures have become increasingly connected resulting to immense business opportunities (Goodrich & De Mooij, 2014). Nonetheless, the new situation has also contributed to various communication issues. In this sense, tremendous research has focused on the importance together with the implications of web design localization as well as online content (Tang, Gallagher, & Bie, 2015). Studies have revealed that culture serves as a moderating force affecting both the perception of the users and their online encounters. Moreover, the cultural profiles attributed to key audience influence the how global organizations and online companies create their strategies (Wang, Yang, Liu, Cao, & Ma, 2014). Additionally, research has revealed that failure to deal with the cultural characteristics can result in cultural misinterpretations and wrongful perceptions whose effects occur globally (Ashraf, Thongpapanl, & Auh, 2014). Furthermore, the features attributed to web design are temporary while they keep changing over time hence the need to continue investigating them regularly.
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For most of literature that focuses on addressing the impact of culture toward web design, it mostly revolves around cultural values and cultural markers, which drive the perceptions of the users based on their online encounter (Getto & Amant, 2015). When it comes to cultural values, they refer to key mindsets that underpin the judgments and choices of individuals. For the values, they usually define things including acceptable or unacceptable, moral or immoral among the cultural group’s members (Lee & Markey, 2014). Investigating the manner in which websites represent culture serves as a crucial move toward realizing increased comprehension of the web as a means of manifesting culture (Getto & Amant, Designing globally, working locally: using personas to develop online communication products for international users, 2015). Furthermore, studies offer insights concerning ways through which organizations might communicate in an ideal manner by making sure to customize their websites based on ways that meet cultural requirements.
Regarding research on cultural markets, the design as well as layout elements of a website establish a foundation for the structure of websites (Jackson, 2014). They are crucial when it comes to offering sites’ feel and look thereby having major influence on way that people perceive a website (Lowry, Wilson, & Haig, 2014). Various cross-cultural investigations have focused on elements of design that differentiate sites’ design from differing cultures. The creation of ‘cultural markets aimed at denoting the preferences of companies in designing of websites (Ashraf, Thongpapanl, & Auh, 2014). It entails the interface elements mostly utilized in particular cultures and less in others, including graphics, colors, multimedia, and layout among other features (Getto & Amant, Designing globally, working locally: using personas to develop online communication products for international users, 2015). In the event of cultural markers, they depict online cultural characteristics that facilitate in the development of website designs specific to particular countries. Concerning the term ‘culturability,’ it was developed in an effort to facilitate in the merging of culture together with usability (Lowry, Wilson, & Haig, 2014). It suggests that persons are anticipated to favor as well as find easy means of navigating the website, which feature design that depict their specific cultural groups.
Cases of Best Breed Higher Education Websites
Lomonosov Moscow State University is among the higher education based in Russia that exercises effective communication in its website. It follows Russia’s culture that requires text to be well written while ensuring that the content matches the requirement of a Russian audience. It ensures to design the website in such a manner that the visitors to the website feel at home. It deploys design skills, industry knowledge, and experience that focuses on gearing the audience toward visiting the site in line with remaining engaged with the content. In the event of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC), it also serves as a higher education institution situated in Latin America that illustrates the culture of the region based on the design of its website. It mostly focuses on visuals, which is a major area of emphasis among the people of Latin America. Individuals in the area prefer seeing as opposed to reading. In this sense, the website utilizes this to its advantage by making video and visual content a priority. The website prefers utilizing video content mostly because many individuals prefer videos when asked of the content that they prefer seeing on a website. As such, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile’s website aims at designing its websites in a manner that brands the institution while ensuring to offer the content consumers prefer. This approach is appealing in that it makes sure to provide the users with content that they can remember (Yudkevich, Altbach, & Rumbley, 2016). The content by the website ensures to build the trust of the users while at the same time boosting levels of engagement with the relevant videos that it avails on the website.
When it comes to Politecnico di Milano, operates as a university in Italy that focuses recognizing the culture of the country through the content that it avails on its website. For the university, it lays emphasis to disclose information pertaining to research and teaching activities, which serves as the key area of preference among the people of the country based on the influence of their culture. It also ensures to avail information pertaining to social responsibility, which is a key area of focus among the people of the country. This content plays a critical role in ensuring that individuals in the country relate well with the university while perceiving it as following the culture of the region based on its practices. Lastly, UCL (University College London) is among the best performing websites in Britain. It emphasizes on portraying insightful, original, and relevant writing, photography, and film on the website’s content. By focusing on high quality content, the learners realize increased comprehension pertaining to the encounter that they found face at the university. Furthermore, in appealing to the future of the students together with the people influencing their choices on where to undertake their studies, the online content by the university is instantly engaging, timely, and relevant. For the design of UCL’s website, it matches with the culture of Britain in that it prefers content that features photography, film, and written copy to differentiate the nation’s culture from others. Thus, the content by UCL on its website is unique and inspiring while focusing to meet the needs of the people using the website to meet their needs (Yudkevich, Altbach, & Rumbley, 2016). This is especially the case when it comes to the students within to be affiliated with the university while at the same time preserving the culture of Britain.
Literature Findings Differing from ESE Institutional Website
Based on the findings from the literature, the present ESE’s institutional website features certain differences with cases identified of the hypothetical Russian, Latin American, and Italian public. The design of the website is simple in such a manner that the audience manages navigate through the content of the website easily. It incorporates the social media platforms for getting in touch with European School of Economics (ESE) as well as sharing thoughts concerning the operations of the university. It also provides an avenue with which the students can share their experiences regarding the university and the different courses that the students can pursue. Overall, the site is simple while it offers relevant content ideal to visitors wishing to know more about it (ESE, 2019). These features make the website to stand out among the other universities situated in Russia, Italy, and Latin America.
When it comes to Hofstede’s analysis, the individualism concept applies for the ESE, since it serves as an institution situated in the UK. For the UK, it attains a high score in this measure with the individuals in the nation emphasizing on caring for themselves and the instant family (TranslateMedia, 2017). ESE portrays this culture owing to ways through which it directs emphasis to match the needs of the different kinds of students to ensure that they are able to fulfil their individual needs in the future. An additional model that can apply in the design of the website based on the culture of the UK is Seven Dimensions of Culture by Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner's. For the model, the dimension applicable in this case is one of Neutral Versus Emotional. Here, the UK follows a neutral culture with which individuals believe that they are what they do and base their worth accordingly. As such, the culture lays emphasis on performance (MindTools, 2019). In the event of the ESE website, it reflects this dimension since its message focuses on driving people to become better at what they do in order to excel in life.
Recommendations to ESE Management on School Website Modification
To ensure that the ESE website becomes more appealing in terms of functionalities in line with its look and feel, the management should focus on emphasizing on achievements and strengths. When looking at the institution, the visitors to the website would like to know the reasons behind the school being special and the areas it exercises pride in. It should ensure to gather the rankings, awards, and statistics while making them available on the website. It should make sure that the information available is valuable, dense, and persuasive to make sure that the website appeals to the audience. Furthermore, the institution’s management should make sure to avail information regarding job placement after the students graduate while linking it to the section meant for alumni on the website. An additional area of major concern when assessing a school is whether the education received would pay off once the students graduate. Here, the major area that individuals go in search for this information is the Alumni page, which they affiliate with the different things upon completing college. ESE needs to avail data regarding the activities of the graduates once they complete college with sources and numbers that can certify the claims. It should ensure to place data related to job placements available from the “Career Center” page of the website, which would link to the ‘Alumni’ section (Tellier, 2017). By focusing on these recommendations, ESE would manage to realize increased visits to its website owing to the valuable information that it would provide to its users, which would allow them to succeed in their future endeavors.
References
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ESE. (2019). European School of Economics. Retrieved from https://www.ese.ac.uk/
Getto, G., & Amant, K. S. (2015). Designing globally, working locally: using personas to develop online communication products for international users. Communication Design Quarterly Review, 3 (1), 24-46.
Getto, G., & Amant, K. S. (2015). Designing globally, working locally: using personas to develop online communication products for international users. Communication Design Quarterly Review, 3 (1), 24-46.
Goodrich, K., & De Mooij, M. (2014). How ‘social’are social media? A cross-cultural comparison of online and offline purchase decision influences. Journal of Marketing Communications, 20 (1-2), 103-116.
Jackson, J. (2014). Introducing language and intercultural communication. Abingdon: Routledge.
Lee, L., & Markey, A. (2014). A study of learners’ perceptions of online intercultural exchange through Web 2.0 technologies. ReCALL, 26 (3), 281-297.
Lowry, P. B., Wilson, D. W., & Haig, W. L. (2014). A picture is worth a thousand words: Source credibility theory applied to logo and website design for heightened credibility and consumer trust. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 30 (1), 63-93.
MindTools. (2019). The Seven Dimensions of Culture. Retrieved from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/seven-dimensions.htm
Moura, F. T., Singh, N., & Chun, W. (2016). The influnce of culture in website design and users' perceptions: Three systematic reviews. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 17 (4), 312-339.
Tang, L., Gallagher, C. C., & Bie, B. (2015). Corporate social responsibility communication through corporate websites: A comparison of leading corporations in the United States and China. International Journal of Business Communication, 55 (2), 205-227.
Tellier, A. (2017). Four simple guidelines to improve university websites. Retrieved from http://www.imarklab.com/en/2017/08/four-simple-guidelines-improve-university-websites/
TranslateMedia. (2017). Understanding the 6 dimensions of UK culture. Retrieved from https://www.translatemedia.com/translation-blog/understanding-6-dimensions-uk-culture/
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