Designing for Cultural Values: Towards a Theory-motivated Method for Culture-sensitive Adaptation of Information Systems

To ensure that an intended target group accepts and uses an information system (IS) is a major challenge for service systems engineering and a key interest in IS research. On the one hand, individuals’ cultural values affect their willingness to use an IS; on the other hand, information technology (IT) is neither value-neutral and, thus, also affects IT acceptance and usage. Therefore, the adaptation of IS should consider both sources of value. Thus, in this paper, we present the theory-driven design of a method for culture-sensitive IS adaptation that draws on IT-culture conflict theory. Our two-fold evaluation approach results show that the method enables to create feasible results for developing culture-sensitive design solutions for IS. As a theoretical contribution, we contribute to the exploration of culture in IS development; as a practical contribution, we provide guidance in how to adapt IS for specific target groups.