Culture and localization on the web: Evidence from multinationals in Russia and Turkey

The broad goal of this study is to explore how the perennial debate on standardization and localization is being shaped on the Worldwide Web. More specifically, the study explores the depiction of cultural values on the web. With limited research investigating this issue, there is no consensus yet regarding whether multinationals depict local cultural values in their international web sites or design standardized sites for global audiences. In an attempt to broaden the empirical evidence from different cultural settings (Russia and Turkey) and to provide a regional perspective, we examined through both qualitative and quantitative analyses the international (Russian and Turkish) web sites of 115 multinationals from the US, Europe, and Asia-Pacific with respect to 37 cultural values in seven cultural dimensions. The results provided support for depiction of local cultural values; however, the multinationals utilize a multi-focus in their web communication strategies that include cultural (domestic and foreign) and marketing strategy elements.