Lost in translation: ethnocentric tendency in website communication

This paper reports on an exploratory case study investigating the proposition that a locally-embedded organization may exhibit a natural tendency towards ethnocentric perspectives in website communication. Particularly, in multicultural audience environments, such as exist in international tourism, ethnocentric website communication may impede the consistent formation of desired organizational image and undermine the effective transmission of product information among those stakeholders holding different cultural frames. The research builds upon the results of another study using Hofstede’s cultural dimensions in website analysis, by introducing the idea of ethnocentric tendency, and linking to the relevant theoretical arenas of organizational identity, organizational image and strategic communication. Empirical material was collected via observation, key informant interviews, workshop/focus group, website content analysis, customer surveys, and email questioning. Ethnocentric tendency was found to be a possible source of website miscommunication for the case organization. The results indicate scope for further investigation of ethnocentric tendency as a source of miscommunication in multicultural stakeholder environments.