Examining the effect of cultural congruence, processing fluency, and uncertainty avoidance in online purchase decisions in the U.S. and Korea

Our study offers a novel approach to investigating whether and when culturally customized websites are an effective way to influence consumers in their online purchase decisions. In particular, informed by extant studies on metacognitive experiences and processing fluency, we examine the underlying mechanism whereby increased cultural congruence derived from a culturally customized website may influence the subjective experience and increase willingness to pay (WTP) online. In order to address these issues, we have conducted two empirical studies that (1) identify cultural differences between the websites of Korean and U.S. travel agencies and (2) investigate the influence of culturally customized websites on WTP in these two markets. The results show that the cultural dimension of uncertainty avoidance is associated significantly with processing fluency, which mediates the consumers’ WTP. In particular, culturally customized websites are more likely to be effective for Korean consumers who have high uncertainty avoidance compared with U.S. consumers who have low uncertainty avoidance. We found that when Korean consumers experience cultural incongruence, they feel a need to exert increased effort in order to process information, which mediates their WTP. However, cultural congruence does not have a significant effect on U.S. consumer WTP. The study has important implications for both academics and managers when developing and employing culturally customized websites to communicate with their consumers.