How do consumers perceive online advertising? : a cross cultural comparison between Sweden and China

Abstract: The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate cultural differences in consumer perception of online advertising. As the Internet grows it has become important for companies to adjust website design to cultural differences in online advertising. Internet users are more comfortable with website design related to their own culture. There have been a limited number of previous investigation regarding website design and our study aims to fill this gap. Schwartz cultural values are used to investigate cultural differences on a micro level. Our study aims to compare Sweden and China based on cultural values. The two countries were chosen because of the cultural differences. Schwartz cultural values have been selected since Schwartz investigates cultural differences on an individual level. The result of the dissertation indicates that there are other factors than colour text and image that influence consumers’ perception of the website design. One of the challenges in the dissertation was to connect the conceptual model to the collected data from the focus group interviews. However, some of the Schwartz’s cultural values could be captured where the participants were motivated by the culture in the responses. The result of the study can be used for companies and their website design in connection to Swedish and Chinese culture. The investigation gave us more understanding regarding the area of online advertising in connection to website design.