The impact of cultural and political dynamics on web site design, development, and implementation. An exploration of potential pitfalls
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/00483480710822436 |
| Pages | 918-938 |
| Date | 25 September 2007 |
| Published date | 25 September 2007 |
| Author | Lloyd C. Harris,Emmanuel Ogbonna |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
The impact of cultural and
political dynamics on web site
design, development, and
implementation
An exploration of potential pitfalls
Lloyd C. Harris and Emmanuel Ogbonna
Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
Abstract
Purpose – The aim of this article is to contribute to extant management and internet literature
through exploring the impact of human dynamics, interaction, and influence on web site design,
development, and implementation within the context of broader internet operations development.
Design/methodology/approach – Given the nature of the subject area under investigation and the
need for both depth and rich understanding, an in-depth, longitudinal case study approach was
considered appropriate for this study.
Findings – The evaluation of the process of web site design, development, and implementation
identifies six cultural gaps and numerous instances of hierarchical political influence that combined
with the medium of communication to shape both the articulation and the understanding of messages.
Originality/value – This study will have significant appeal not only to management and culture
theorists and practitioners, but also to those executives and academics interested in the processes and
pitfalls of web site design, development, and implementation within the broader context of developing
internet operations.
Keywords Worldwide web, Designand development, Internet, Organizationalculture
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
A study by Johnson and Leaver (2006) notes that between 1997 and 2003 online retail
sales grew by 96 percent with nearly 36 million households undertaking online
shopping. Although such exponential growth is unlikely in the immediate future,
Johnson and Tesch (2006) predict that US online retail sales will grow at a steady 14
percent over the next five years, from $172.4 billion in 2005 to $328.6 billion in 2010.
While the volume of e-commerce in Europe and Asia is currently proportionally
smaller, contemporary estimates indicate that growth rates in these markets ma y well
be higher than in North America (Favier and Bouquet, 2006). Indeed, Favier and
Bouquet (2006) go on to predict that European eCommerce will surge to e263 billion in
2011. Such expansion appears not only merely to be altering the nature of transactional
exchange (see Brynjolfsson and Smith, 2000; Fogg, 2003), but also, more
fundamentally, affecting the very nature of competition (see Sampler, 1998) and
service delivery (McIvor et al., 2004).
In this regard, creating and developing internet operations[1] have proved to be
significant challenges for contemporary managements (Kickul and Gundry, 2001)
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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PR
36,6
918
Received October 2005
Revised October 2006
Accepted October 2006
Personnel Review
Vol. 36 No. 6, 2007
pp. 918-938
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/00483480710822436
while long-term customer retention online has proved an elusive goal (see Reichheld
et al., 2000). Given the potential performance consequences of developing internet
operations that generate loyal and satisfied customers (see Zeithaml et al., 2002), it is
perhaps not surprising to find that researchers have dedicated considerable effort to
identifying the management-controllable factors that influence customers’
interpretations of online offers. In this regard, one of the most important factors to
emerge is that online consumers’ perceptions of service quality and value are, in part, a
function of web site design and usability (see Lynch and Ariely, 2000; Rothaermel and
Sugiyama, 2001).
Reflecting the widespread recognition of the importance of effective web site design
and development by practitioners and academics, it is not surprising that a variety of
models have been put forward (e.g. Isakowitz et al., 1995; Schwabe et al., 1996). While
such models provide useful prescriptive guides, they tend to overlook the impact of
intra-firm human dynamics, interaction, and influence (e.g. De Berranger et al., 2001;
Joseph et al., 2001). The inattention to such issues during web site development is
somewhat perplexing given that consumers’ interpretation of organizational culture is
linked to their consumption and behavioural intentions (e.g. Du Gay and Salaman,
1992; Knights et al., 1994) while the exhibition of a consistent organizational culture
has been repeatedly linked to organizational performance (e.g. Denison, 1990; Detert
et al., 2000).
This study aims to contribute to extant management and internet literature through
exploring the effects of intra-firm cultural dynamics and political influence on web site
design, development, and implementation within the context of broader internet
operations development. The targeted audience of this study encompasses not only
management and culture theorists and practitioners, but also those executives and
academics interested in the processes and pitfalls of web site design, development, and
implementation within the broader context of developing internet operations.
Web site design, development, and implementation
Given the established and increasingly reinforced linkages between effective web sites
and satisfied customers (see Reichheld et al., 2000; Szymanski and Hise, 2000), it is
predictable that such issues have been studied by a variety of observers (for example,
Kemp and Buckner, 1999; Anckar and Walden, 2001). These, and other more specific
studies, have led to a large and rapidly expanding list of success factors in web site
design. A small range of examples include; usability (A
˚berg, and Shahmehri, 2000),
image usage (Woodbeck, 1995), aesthetic appeal (Quinn, 1995), “findability” factors
(Schwartz, 1998), the extent of interactivity (Ghose and Wenyu, 1998), branding issues
(Simeon, 1999), and the degree of personalization (Kothari and Claypool, 2001).
While computer science researchers have (understandably) focused on the technical
aspects of web site design, studies into the broader management of internet operations
have highlighted a number of cultural and organizational factors that affect web site
development (see Standing, 2002). Such issues range from management resistance (e.g.
Shermach, 1997), to the extent of human support, to the presence and actions of skilled
change agents (e.g. De Berranger et al., 2001). Furthermore, insights from the broader
internet operations literature suggest that internal cultural and political dynamics can
exert a profound and pervasive impact on web site design, development, and
implementation (see for example, Kanter, 2001; Taylor et al., 2001). Indeed, Standing
Cultural and
political
dynamics
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