A cross-cultural comparison of business information use

This paper attempts to make a comparison between a western culture, Canada, and an eastern culture, China, in the use of business information. As part of a larger project of measuring the impact of information on development, four surveys of the business communities in these two countries were conducted. Two of them were carried out in Shanghai, China, with one aimed at small business and the other at mediumsized business. The other two were conducted in Canada with the same coverage as the corresponding surveys in China. Data were collected on the use of various types of information sources in business operations. Results show that informal information sources are more important and better used than the formal ones in both cultures. However, business people’s self-perception of their information use differs between the two cultures. Electronic information sources are currently poorly used in both countries. © 1998 Academic Press