The Impact of Language and Culture on Perceived Website Usability

Online retailers offering their products across national and cultural borders are eager to enhance the usability of their websites to attract large numbers of visitors. The results of the present research show that the perceived usability increases when the website was originally conceived in the native language of the user. Thus, translation, even though of excellent quality, creates a cultural distance which impacts on the web users’ evaluation of the site. Conversely, where translation is less important, such as in the evaluation of the quality of an offer, a consumer’s native language has no impact on the buying decision.