Information and culture: Cultural differences in the perception and recall of information

•Culture plays an important role in the perception and recall of information.•Cultural differences affect the perception of information in high-context conditions.•People in collectivistic cultures comprehend more information in high-context conditions.

Culture is found to play an important role in the perception and recall of information. Hypotheses based on the two cultural models (individualism and context) were tested using a 2 × 2 factorial between-subject experimental design: individualism/collectivism and high/low-context conditions. The subjects consisted of 82 American students and 82 Korean students. The cultural tests confirm that the American culture represents individualism, whereas the Korean culture represents collectivism. The results indicate that Koreans tend to be more comfortable with a high-context culture that uses indirect and ambiguous messages. The Korean subjects show higher ratings for perceptions of information in a high-context design compared to the American subjects. There was no statistically significant difference in recall of information from high- and low-context conditions between the American and the Korean subjects. The findings of this study may benefit information professionals who are looking for effective ways of conveying information to intended audiences.