Saudi Arabian Cultural Factors and Personalised Elearning

With the support of the internet, many institutes in various countries have adopted the idea of introducing a web-based education system. In many countries, the government implements initiatives pushing eLearning solutions forward, such as in Europe (e.g, the UK, Malaysia and Singapore, but also in the Arab world (e.g., in Saudi Arabia and Kuwaiti). However, as a late comer to eLearning, Saudi Arabia still has to find the right balance between this globalisation of learning, and its cultural values. This study thus looks into the specific case of Saudi Arabia, to identify the cultural factors that influence acceptance of eLearning, including the more recently developed area of personalised elearning. This research identifies Saudi Arabian users’ cultural characteristics, by analysing Hofstede's cultural value dimensions, and their appropriateness for Saudi Arabian eLearning. Additionally, the study analyses how these factors influence higher education students' acceptance of the eLearning. The quantitative data from the students was collected by using an online questionnaire. In this study, the findings demonstrate that Saudi Arabian users’ cultural characteristics are similar to Hofstede’s 1980 analysis for the Arab world and can be specifically applied for Saudi personalised eLearning. In addition, the factors of Individualism vs. Collectivism and Uncertainty Avoidance were found to have a significant influence on a student’s perception of education. Hence, implementers of eLearning in Saudi Arabia need to be aware of these strongly influential factors and implement them in their learning solution.