Examining the Impact of Culture and Language on the User Acceptance of the Media Website in Jordan

This study examines the website acceptance based on the information system quality and the impact of cultural dimensions and language components on the actual acceptance and usage of the identified media websites. Based on the data from three groups of users, namely the users of bbc.com to represent the purely English media websites, the al-jazeera.com representing the semi-localized media website and the al-rai.com representing the local websites. Questionnaires were administered to 420 internet users in different regions in Jordan. The questionnaire measures nine parameters which include the system accessibility, the response time, information quality, cultural adaptation, Arabic language, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitudes towards using the websites and the behavioral intention to use the websites. Capitalizing on the quantitative research methodology by expanding the technology acceptance model for the research framework, the findings showed that the cultural dimensions of power distance, collectivism, masculinity and uncertainty avoidance have the positive impact on the Jordanian users’ preference of the media websites. The conclusions are drawn from the positive impact of cultural adaptation on the perceived ease of use of the local websites and also on the users’ attitudes towards the use of the local websites. However, there is a negative impact based on the lack of cultural adaptation on the users’ attitudes towards the use of English originated websites. Similarly, there is no significant impact of the cultural adaptation on the users’ attitudes towards the use of the semi- localized websites. The research findings showed that the websites’ information system quality, the Arabic language usage and the Arabic cultural adaptation have positive impacts on the Jordanian users’ perceptions and acceptance in choosing the media websites as preferred websites.