e commerce and culture

Culture and E-Commerce; A Case Study for
Cyprus
Vasso Stylianou, Leantros Kyriakoullis, Andreas Savva

Department of Computer Science, School of Sciences, University of Nicosia
P.O. Box 24005, 1700 Nicosia, Cyprus, [e-mail]

Abstract
This is a study of culture in relation to e-commerce behaviour using
Hofstede’s theory on cultural dimensions and country clusters. The main objective of the current project is to provide a longitudinal view of how national culture affecting the use of e-commerce has changed over a six year period (2005-2011) by replicating a 2005 study and comparing the results. Findings suggest that there have been some changes towards individualism while at the same time there is an increase in the uncertainty avoidance of e-commerce users in Cyprus.
Keywords: Culture; E-Commerce; Hofstede

1.0 Introduction
The increase in the internet usage overall and the increase in the e-commerce activity world-wide continues. For smaller nations, such as Cyprus, the penetration of e-commerce in the island’s population may be smaller but it follows the same increasing trend as everywhere else. According to Eurostat [1], the statistical office of the European Union which provides the latest statistical data of countries across Europe, Internet use by individuals in Cyprus between 2005 and 2011 changed from 33 to 58%. It is worth noting that only 4% of the Cyprus population had some e-commerce activity in 2005. This number changed to 16% in 2011.
Globalization of Internet usage, reported by the Internet World Stats service [2] which shows a growth in the world Internet usage of 528.1% between the years
2000-2011, has definitely changed the way corporations operate and conduct business. For enterprises in Cyprus the level of Internet access is currently at 91% of all enterprises. As for the percentage of Cyprus enterprises selling via the
Internet and/or other networks, this is reported at 8% in 2011 and purchasing via

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