Cross-cultural and cognitive aspects of web site navigation

The Web is intrinsically a global medium. Consequently, deciding how a Web site should express potentially culturespecific content to worldwide visitors is an important consideration in Web site design. In this article, the authors examine some of the site content characteristics that can lead Web site visitors to an optimal navigation experience, or flow, in a cross-cultural context. In particular, a cognitive framework focuses on the effect of culture on attitudes toward the site and flow. The authors suggest that the congruity of a Web site with a visitor’s culture is a site content characteristic that influences the likelihood of experiencing flow. The authors develop a conceptual model to account for the impact of culture and other site content characteristics on flow and describe preliminary evidence supporting their model. David Luna, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. His primary interests are in language processing, the role of language in advertising and electronic marketing, and cross-cultural advertising. His work has been published or is forthcoming in theJournal of Consumer Research; Journal of Advertising; Journal of Consumer Psychology, Psychology and Marketing; International Marketing Review; Marketing Science Institute Working Paper Series; and other publications. Laura A. Peracchio, Ph.D., is a professor of marketing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her primary research interests include understanding persuasion processes with applications to social marketing, consumer decision making, language processing, and children’s consumer behavior. She is an associate editor of theJournal of Consumer Research and serves on the Editorial Board of theJournal of Consumer Psychology. Her work has been published in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, and other publications. María D. de Juan is a professor of business administration at the University of Alicante (Spain), where she has lectured since 1991. She has been a lecturer at the University of Florida and at the Southampton Institute (United Kingdom), as well as at several Spanish business schools. She is the author of theShopping Centre Attraction Towards Consumers, Sales Promotions, andCommercial Distribution: Channels and Retailing. Her articles about distribution and consumer behavior have been published or are forthcoming in several journals and edited books, including theJournal of Consumer Psychology. She focuses her research on commercial attraction and consumer behavior.