Developing international personas: A new intercultural communication practice in globalized societies

Iben Jensen; Heidi Hautopp; Lene Nielsen; Sabine Madsen

Developing international personas: A new intercultural communication practice in globalized societies

Iben Jensen, Heidi Hautopp, Lene Nielsen, Sabine Madsen

The Center for Applied Game Research

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › peer review

8 Citationer (Scopus)

Abstract

Abstract

Personas have become a well-known method for IT-designers when developing new products. However, the vast majority of personas constructed are created from a mono-cultural (Western) perspective, representing users from a single national culture at a time. Due to the growing global market, international companies show an increasing interest in creating international personas, but research on personas in a global context is still limited.
To address this gap, this paper first offers a review on articles addressing international personas, and second it presents an empirical Danish study on IT companies’ strategies when going abroad to new markets. Third, inspired by practice theory, the article discusses whether the persona method could benefit from creating narratives related to practices enacted by international users.

Originalsprog	Engelsk
Tidsskrift	Journal of Intercultural Communication
Udgave nummer	43
ISSN	1404-1634
Status	Udgivet - mar. 2017

Emneord

Keywords: personas, practice theory, globalization

Adgang til dokumentet

https://www.immi.se/intercultural/nr43/jensen.html

AUB Link

Søg efter materialet i Aalborg Universitetsbiblioteks søgemaskine

Citationsformater

@article{048873378c314751943dc0c71a98d26b,

title = "Developing international personas: A new intercultural communication practice in globalized societies",

abstract = "Personas have become a popular method in new product development. Personas have traditionally, and are still, primarily created to represent users from a single national culture at a time during the design process. This, however, is unsatisfactory for companies operating on a global market as they show an increasing interest in international personas. However, research on personas in a global context is limited. To address this gap, this paper provides an overview of extant research on international personas. Secondly, it presents an empirical study on challenges Danish IT companies experience when using the persona method to collect and present insights about their international users. A key finding in both the literature review and the empirical study was the ambiguity concerning the concept of culture. Therefore, the paper draws on theories about culture, and especially practice theory, to discuss how challenges related to perceptions of culture and intercultural communication might be overcome when working with international personas. In particular, it is suggested that the persona method could benefit from creating narratives that focus more on the similar practices enacted by international users and less on perceived differences in national culture.",

keywords = "Keywords: personas, practice theory, globalization, personas, globalization, practice theory",

author = "Iben Jensen and Heidi Hautopp and Lene Nielsen and Sabine Madsen",

year = "2017",

month = mar,

language = "English",

journal = "Journal of Intercultural Communication",

issn = "1404-1634",

publisher = "Immigrant Institute",

number = "43",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Developing international personas

T2 - A new intercultural communication practice in globalized societies

AU - Jensen, Iben

AU - Hautopp, Heidi

AU - Nielsen, Lene

AU - Madsen, Sabine

PY - 2017/3

Y1 - 2017/3

N2 - Personas have become a popular method in new product development. Personas have traditionally, and are still, primarily created to represent users from a single national culture at a time during the design process. This, however, is unsatisfactory for companies operating on a global market as they show an increasing interest in international personas. However, research on personas in a global context is limited. To address this gap, this paper provides an overview of extant research on international personas. Secondly, it presents an empirical study on challenges Danish IT companies experience when using the persona method to collect and present insights about their international users. A key finding in both the literature review and the empirical study was the ambiguity concerning the concept of culture. Therefore, the paper draws on theories about culture, and especially practice theory, to discuss how challenges related to perceptions of culture and intercultural communication might be overcome when working with international personas. In particular, it is suggested that the persona method could benefit from creating narratives that focus more on the similar practices enacted by international users and less on perceived differences in national culture.

AB - Personas have become a popular method in new product development. Personas have traditionally, and are still, primarily created to represent users from a single national culture at a time during the design process. This, however, is unsatisfactory for companies operating on a global market as they show an increasing interest in international personas. However, research on personas in a global context is limited. To address this gap, this paper provides an overview of extant research on international personas. Secondly, it presents an empirical study on challenges Danish IT companies experience when using the persona method to collect and present insights about their international users. A key finding in both the literature review and the empirical study was the ambiguity concerning the concept of culture. Therefore, the paper draws on theories about culture, and especially practice theory, to discuss how challenges related to perceptions of culture and intercultural communication might be overcome when working with international personas. In particular, it is suggested that the persona method could benefit from creating narratives that focus more on the similar practices enacted by international users and less on perceived differences in national culture.

KW - Keywords: personas, practice theory, globalization

KW - personas

KW - globalization

KW - practice theory

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1404-1634

JO - Journal of Intercultural Communication

JF - Journal of Intercultural Communication

IS - 43

ER -

Developing international personas: A new intercultural communication practice in globalized societies

Abstract

Emneord

Adgang til dokumentet

AUB Link

Fingeraftryk

Citationsformater