The cross-cultural challenges of adopting B2C e-commerce in Middle East, Europe, North America and Africa: An exploratory study

摘要

In this paper we present a cross-cultural comparison on the adoption of online shopping based on gender, region, employment, time spent on the Internet, users' perception on security icons with a special emphasis on the notion of trust. The study was conducted to track cultural differences in how users perceive online shopping. The collected data was analyzed to extract Internet usage patterns among European, North American, Middle Eastern and African users. Once online vendors have an understanding of who is online, they need to focus on consumers' perceptions and expectations towards their business. The expectation is that if the consumer decision-making process can be understood, online vendors will have much better idea how to serve customers around the world. The composition by gender and its impact by specific region is analyzed and discussed. Significant differences were found in respect of Internet usage, time spend on the Internet, and employment status, between European, North American, Middle Eastern and African users.