Implications for Design of Computer Interfaces for Chinese Users in Mainland China

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of cultural differences on computer performance of Chinese and American users and the design of appropriate interfaces for Chinese users. Past research documents the cognitive and cultural differences between the Chinese and the American populations. Those include cognitive style differences (Chinese as concrete and American as abstract) and thinking process differences (Chinese as thematic and American as functional). An experiment was conducted to investigate these differences, in which 40 Chinese participants residing in Mainland China and 40 American participants participated. The independent variables were knowledge representation (abstract and concrete) and interface structure (functional and thematic) of an information system. Results indicate that, for the Chinese participants, advantages were associated with concrete representation and with thematic structure in terms of initial performance time, but the advantages vanished for later performance due to learning. There were also advantages associated with thematic structure in terms of error rate throughout experimental trials.