Title: Global differences in industrial handheld device preference

Authors: Reuben F. Burch; Shuchisnigdha Deb; Lesley Strawderman; Katherine King

Addresses: Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Mississippi State University, USA ' Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Mississippi State University, USA ' Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Mississippi State University, USA ' Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Mississippi State University, USA

Abstract: One of the major concerns in managing a global organisation is the potential difficulty that could arise due to different cultural preferences for technologies. This study provides evidence that cultural difference can influence ruggedised handheld device design preference. Field workers from different world regions of a worldwide service company responded to a survey expressing their choices on four potential handheld devices, five available features, and on the most influencing feature. The region of the world from which the workers were domiciled was impactful and showed significant influence on device selection as well as on all of the feature preferences.

Keywords: handheld device; global organisation; cultural difference.

DOI: 10.1504/JDR.2017.086779

Journal of Design Research, 2017 Vol.15 No.2, pp.128 - 149

Received: 01 Feb 2016
Accepted: 21 Apr 2017
Published online: 24 Sep 2017 *

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