The Effect of Culture on Perceptions of Websites Credibility Abstract Keywords Literature Review: Websites credibility Culture

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1 The Effect of Culture on Perceptions of Websites Credibility Abstract Culture includes elements such as values and attitudes. It is important that the background or values of the groups be taken into account when designing websites (Hofstede, 2001). Understanding how cultural differences may affect consumer perception of websites credibility may reveal ways to localize a global interface. While consumer interfaces targeted to different cultures may not need to be completely different from each other, there must be features that allow the targeted audience to feel comfortable (Chau et al., 2002). Research is missing providing any websites design recommendations for Arab culture specifically Egypt. While there are some available guidelines for designing interfaces for different cultures, most of these guidelines are based on experience not empirical research. To date, researchers have reached no agreement concerning the design of interfaces for cross-cultural use. This study adopted 20 semi-structured interviews with Egyptian online users who booked, or tried to book, their airlines tickets online. Half of these interviews (10 interviews) were conducted with Egyptians who reside in Egypt while the other half was conducted with Egyptians who reside outside Egypt (England). The purpose was to find out the differences between the two groups perception of airlines websites credibility resulting from living in two different cultures. Keywords: Credibility, Culture, Offline factors, Online factors, Infrastructure factors Literature Review: Websites credibility Everyday people encounter more information than they can possibly use. Friends, colleagues, books, newspapers, television, and Web sites are just a few of the resources and media contributing to the flow of information. But all information is not necessarily of equal value. In many cases, certain information appears to better, or more trustworthy, than other information. The challenge that most people then face is to judge which information is more credible (Hilligoss & Rieh, 2008). What does website credibility mean? According to Brajnik (2001), website credibility is difficult to be defined. Palmer (2002) states that user trust and repeated use of a website is associated with ease of navigation and the content of the website. There is a positive relationship between product information, ease of navigation, and the perceived credibility of websites (Long & Chiagouris, 2006). Elliott and Speck (2005) and Lazar, Meiselwitz, and Feng (2007) also support the contention that consumer perceptions of website credibility are strengthened by ease of use and accessibility of product information Fogg (1999) and Fogg and Tseng (1999) defined as website credibility as believability. Fogg et al., (2001) make it clear that perceptions of website credibility are based on two factors, trustworthiness and expertise. Trustworthiness indicates that websites perceived as trustworthy are well-intentioned, truthful, and unbiased. Expertise indicates that the websites perceived as expert are knowledgeable, experienced, and effective (Fogg & Tseng, 1999; Fogg et al., 2001; Fogg, Lee, & Marshall, 2002). The same content presented by two different websites, one perceived as trustworthy and effective and the other as untrustworthy and ineffective, are on different ends of credibility continuum. Culture Hofstede (2001) argues that certain cultural factors, masculinity, individualism v. collectivism, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance differentiate one culture from another. Marcus and Gould (2001) asserted that websites designed for high-masculinity cultures focus on work tasks, quick results, and attention to content is gained through

2 competitions. Websites designed for high-femininity cultures will more often focus on mutual cooperation and support (rather than mastery) (Marcus & Gould, 2001). Individualism or collectivism is the extent to which people in a culture take care of their own interests rather than perceiving themselves as a member of a group and having a responsibility to look after the interests of that group (Hofstede, 2001). Marcus & Gould (2001) stated that individualism v. collectivism may influence website designs related to portrayal of success, and may contain references to an underlying sense of morality. Power distance is the degree to which less powerful persons in a culture accept as common the imbalances in distribution of power in their society (Hofstede, 2001). The greater the acceptance of power distance, the less technically competent a website will need to be (Marcus & Gould, 2001). People also differ in the extent that they feel anxiety about unknown matters. Cultures vary in their avoidance of uncertainty which creates different customs and values regarding reliability and tolerance for ambiguity (Hofstede, 2001). In high uncertainty avoidance cultures such as Egypt websites that are simple, limited choices and controlled amounts of data are more likely to be perceived as credible as those with less control of navigation or links that open to new windows leading away from the original location (Hofstede, 2001). While the literature contains sufficient empirical evidence to support the theory that culture can determine specific consumer behavior, less empirical evidence is currently available to support this phenomenon regarding e-commerce (Miles, Howes, & Davies, 2000). Loch, Straub and Kamel (2003) investigated the cultural inducements and obstacles to use of the internet in the Arab world. The study used a questionnaire answered by 100 Arab internet users, 85% of the participants were Egyptians, they found that culture could be a hurdle to use of the internet in Arab countries because of the family oriented nature of Arab culture (Hofstede, 1997). Loch et al. (2003) reported that the majority the participants perceived using the internet is a threaten factor to the family which may negatively impact on community and family life. Hasan and Ditsa (1999) supported these finding and performed a qualitative study in Arab and Middle Eastern countries, taking into consideration Hofstede s (1991) uncertainty avoidance (UA) dimension. Hasan and Ditsa (1999) interviewed representatives of the information technology (IT) community in some Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt, Jordan and Turkey and compared their findings with Australia. The study found that the high uncertainty avoidance of Middle Easterners is one reason for resistance to IT (Hasan & Ditsa, 1999). Websites designed for low-context western cultures are unsuited to the high-context culture of the Middle East (Hasan and Ditsa, 1999, Hofstede, 1991). Methodology The study adopted 20 semi-structured interviews. The interviews included two main sections. In the first section the questions were general and aimed at obtain some information participants their years of internet use, types of internet use, problems found with internet use, their online shopping habits, and problems found with making online purchases. In the second section, interviews questions designed to find out the factors that affect participants perception of airlines websites credibility. Findings Interviews analysis revealed that there are some contradicts regarding the online shopping habits between interviewees in Egypt and England. However, there was a general agreement about the following factors as affecting the two groups of interviewees perceptions of airlines websites credibility.

3 Offline factors related to the airline company There was a general agreement among interviewees that the offline presences of the airline company affect the credibility perception of the online presence of the airline company. Egyptians prefer face to face transactions as opposed to internet activities. Buying from the Internet would be more risky. The high e-commerce risk attitude among interviewees is due to the high uncertainty avoidance characterizing the Egyptians (Hofstede, 2001). This is the main reason for Egyptian to be highly concerned with the offline presence of the airline company before utilizing its website The role of the offline presence of an airline company in shaping the credibility perception of airlines websites is highlighted through quality of airlines services, customer services, reputation and prices: Service Quality Quality of services was important in shaping interviewees perceptions of the airline company. Airline service quality influences passengers choice of the airline company. As all airline companies provide the same services, the good services provided by an airline company differentiate it from the other competitors. Convenient flight schedule was important for interviewees. They acknowledged that they might not fly with Airline Company because it does not have a suitable flight times. Moreover, flight delays can increase interviewees dissatisfaction with the airline company. Customer service representatives should inform travelers about the delay. This might be important especially for Egyptian travelers because Egyptian people in general do not like to wait. Moreover, quick response to cancelled or delayed flights was considered an indicator of the quality of airline s service perceived by the research interviewees. Airlines should provide the proper accommodation for travellers in case of the long time delay or cancellation of flights. Other service quality factors that have been revealed by the research interviewees are luggage allowance and delivery of delayed luggage. Interviewees stated that luggage allowance is one of the main considerations when they choose the airline company Customer services Service representatives behaviours have a great influence on customer perception of service quality and on customer satisfaction. Service representative s behaviour is found to highly affect Egyptian travellers perceptions towards the airline company. Interviewees considered friendly and polite customer services representative highly important when choosing the airline company. Interviewees expressed their need for someone to help them and answer their questions during and after booking the ticket and at the airport Respond to customer requests quickly and honest attitude to passenger complaints are another factors affect the interviewees perceptions towards airlines customer service. Moreover, the most common reason for all interviewees not to prefer to travel with Egypt air was the bad attitude from the in-flight crew. The way in-flight crew treats passengers was found to have a great influence on interviewees satisfaction. The way how professionally inflight crew express themselves during the flight affect how comfortable passengers feel during many hours on flights. Reputation In the context of web interaction in Egypt, the high uncertainty avoidance might be the reason for consumers to rely on trusted web sites for known companies rather than to explore

4 other new alternatives. The high uncertainty avoidance for the Egyptian consumers defined is found to be associated with a stronger effect of perceived reputation on trust. The high uncertainty avoidance was shown by all interviewees. They stated that it is important for them to fly with well known airline company. Also, interviewees added that when they buy their tickets online, they prefer a well-known website for a well-known company. They never trust to insert their personal information with unknown website. Good reputation was highlighted by interviewees as important factor to choose the airline company. Interviewees do not prefer to fly with an airline company the experiences recent accidents even if the airline s overall safety record is better than its competitors Price Price plays an important role in travellers decisions in choosing a particular airline company. Higher prices negatively affect purchase intentions to buy. Price of airline companies was the most important factor for almost all interviewees when choosing the airline company. Although, interviewees were university lecturers that considered from the highest education level in Egypt, they are classified as a limited income group that falls into the middle income class. This social class represents about 52% of Egyptian society population (Abu-Taleb, 2002) and 46% of purchasing power in the Egyptian market (Ayish, 2003). Price is considered the priority for those people when choosing the service provider. Online factors related to Airline Company s website: When interviewees have been asked about online factors that affect their credibility perceptions towards airlines websites, different answers have been given. However, these factors could be grouped into four main website related items as following: Visual design Interviewees defined visual design as the visual aspects of the website such as easy to read information, page appearance and colors. The majority of interviewees asserted on the importance of easy to use website, accessible information and font size rather than other factors such as attractive design and using colors when mentioned visual design of website. Interviewees added that it is important that the website has accessible and easy to read information. Websites should use easy and clear words familiar for all different users from different cultures. They also considered this factor as an important element of the visual design of the airline website. Moreover, other interviewees added font size as important component for the good user interface design for a website. However, Attractive design and colors were highlighted by the majority of interviewees as unimportant element of the airline website design Technical characteristics Technical characteristics of airline websites were mentioned by all interviewees. They included all technical aspects they might face while booking their ticket such as finding the website, loading time of the website and other problems arise during the use of the website such as broken links. Technical characteristics are especially important for Egyptian users because most of them are not professional in using the internet Egyptians do not like to spend a long time in searching for a specific website. If the website is hard to be found, they might get bored and search for another one. Also interviewees also complained about the long loading time for websites and the sudden freeze of the webpage.

5 Content design The third factor affecting airlines websites credibility highlighted by interviewees was the website content. Content design refers to all information offered by the website apart from the website design. From the interviewees point of view, content of the airline website is more important than its design. Services for special needs passengers were highlighted by the research interviewees as a part of the good airline website content. Moreover, the research result analysis revealed that participants prefer airlines websites that allow them to change flight time, request in-flight meal and seat online. This need was highlighted by all interviewees. Additionally, they highlighted the need for variety of payment methods. Providing different payment methods allow more flexibility for passengers and make it easy for them to select the suitable way for paying as asserted by the research interviewees. Security and privacy Security and privacy are considered the main reasons for Egyptian for not shop online. They need to insure that the website is secured and private enough before they interact with this website. All interviewees raised the issue of security when asked about factors affecting their perceptions towards airline websites. They stated that they feel worried while booking the ticket online because they insert their personal and financial information to the website The research interviewees are found to be worried about their financial information such as they credit card number. They asserted that they like to make sure that this information will reach only the airline website. Infrastructure factors in Egypt Infrastructure factors in Egypt, as stated by interviewees, include two items: online purchases delivery and return and internet related problems. These factors have been highlighted by all interviewees. They complained that they most of the time they do not deliver items bought online in Egypt. The majority of houses in Egypt do not have numbers; it is difficult for post men to reach a specific address. Additionally, interviewees complained about the return system in Egypt. The usual process of shipping the item back to the online retailer in Egypt involves taking the item to a post office as delivery; pick up items from home is not widely available. Depending on the hours you work, it may be difficult to get to a post office during regular business hours and may require taking time off from work, or losing sleep to return the product to the retailer. They also highlighted the problem of unsecured post services. Other internet related problems that highlighted by interviewees were slow internet connections, online fraud and returning money stolen online. These problems found to be related to interviewees refuse to buy their airline tickets online. The main differences between the two groups of interviewees: One of the objectives for the qualitative study was to find out the main differences between the first group of interviewees, who currently live in Egypt, and the second group of participants, who currently living in the UK, in their airlines websites credibility perceptions. The main disagreement between the two groups was the level of risk concern expressed by each group of interviewees. The first group, who lives currently in Egypt, expressed a higher level of risk concerning the online shopping compared to the second group, who were Egyptians currently living in the UK. The first group found it too risky to book online, and they preferred to use airline office, agency or phone to book their airline tickets. The second group was willing to book online if they could make sure about the security of the website.

6 Culture is still the main reason for Egyptians not to shop online. This can be noticed through interviewees with the second group who live currently in England and was influenced by the British culture. They acknowledged that it is easier and faster to buy online. They buy their groceries, clothes and even their electric devices online. On the other hand, the second group of interviewees still had their risk concerning shopping online in Egypt. Interviewees who travelled abroad before but live currently in Egypt acknowledged that they were shop online abroad but they did not even try to do that in Egypt. They acknowledged that they never trust to buy online in Egypt. They thought that people in Egypt still do not have the online culture. They like to check products first and bargain with the seller. They sometimes like to have a paper ticket in their hands instead of the online ticket as stated by one interviewee. Moreover, infrastructure problems were mainly important for the first group, who live in Egypt. They complained about the online fraud problem in Egypt. They never trust to use their visa online in Egypt. They added that it is very hard to deliver or return items purchase through the internet. The other group did not face any problems when buying online before. They have never exposed to the online fraud and they always trust to buy online in England. They expressed that they deliver their online shopping and return them very easily. Conclusion People differ in the way they perceive the credibility of websites. Study revealed that there are some contradicts regarding the online shopping habits between interviewees in Egypt and England. Egyptian users, in the first group, who live currently in Egypt perceive less risk concerns towards online shopping than do Egyptian users, in the second group, who live in Egypt. Interviewees in the first group confirmed that they never trust to conduct any online transactions in Egypt. Both groups agreed that factors that affect their perceptions of airlines websites credibility divide into three main sets of factors including: offline factors related to the offline presence of the airline company, online factors related to the online presence of the airline company and factors related to the infrastructure in Egypt.

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