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Cultural Dimensions and Global Web Design
Individualism vs. Collectivism (IC)
• Willingness to provide personal information vs. protection of personal data differentiating the individual from the group The effects of these differences can be illustrated on the Web by examining national park Web sites from two countries with very different IC indices (Figures 4 and 5). The Glacier Bay National Park Website (www.nps.gov/glba/evc.htm ) is located in the USA, which has the highest IC index rating (91).
Figure 4. High individualist value: US National Park Website.
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Cultural Dimensions and Global Web …show more content…
Hofstede focuses on the traditional assignment to masculine roles of assertiveness, competition, and toughness, and to feminine roles of orientation to home and children, people, and tenderness. He acknowledges that in different cultures different professions are dominated by different genders. (For example, women dominate the medical profession in the Soviet Union, while men dominate in the USA.) But in masculine cultures, the traditional distinctions are strongly maintained, while feminine cultures tend to collapse the distinctions and overlap gender roles (both men and women can exhibit modesty, tenderness, and a concern with both quality of life and material success.) Traditional masculine work goals include earnings, recognition, advancement, and challenge. Traditional feminine work goals include good relations with supervisors, peers, and subordinates; good living and working conditions; and employment security. The following list shows some typical MAS index values, where a high value implies a strongly masculine culture: 95 Japan 79 Austria 62 USA 53 Arab countries 47 Israel 43 France 14 Netherlands 05 Sweden Since Hofstede’s definition focuses on the balance between roles and relationships, we believe masculinity and femininity may be expressed on the Web through different emphases. High-masculinity cultures would focus on the following user-interface and design elements: • Traditional