The Use and Usefulness of Cultural Dimensions in Product Development

Insights from cultural dimensions can be translated into UI guidelines to make technology products locally relevant. Such design suggestions originate from academia but little insight exists in how this knowledge is being applied and tested with global industry products, indicating a gap between research and practice. We contribute two case studies, developed based on work experience and interviews with Product Owners for e-commerce localization in Booking.com and Managing Editors involved in the development for the AI Cortana, Microsoft’s intelligent assistant, that provide insight into the efforts to develop or optimize a locally relevant product. These case studies contribute to the academic discussion of the use and usefulness of cultural dimensions by examining the value of existing academic research when applied in specific circumstances. We found that cultural dimensions are used for idea generation, to inform design interventions at a global scale, and to justify personal experiences and intuitions. We also found that designers in industry rely more on personal experiences and knowledge than on the use of cultural dimensions. We discuss the complexities of optimizing for local markets and how insights from the case studies can help to further close the gap between industry and research.