The Role of National Culture in Systems Analysis and Design

The development of information systems is no longer limited to a few locations throughout the world. They are developed in countries whose business environment and culture are very different. Culture, we suggest, is therefore an important variable in the development process and may introduce its own set of problems, the consequences of which may range from project failure to delayed delivery of working systems. But culture’s influence may be indirect, difficult to isolate, and difficult to measure. For these reasons, perhaps, there has been no research that directly addresses culture’s role in the systems analysis and design process. This paper is an attempt to fill that void. It identifies the stages in the systems analysis and design process likely to be influenced by culture and the pattern which these influences are likely to take. The benefit of such a framework is that it draws attention to the issue of culture at the beginning of the development cycle and may reduce the chances of failure or costly delays.