The consideration of cultural differences in the design of information systems

This study empirically examined cultural differences in the amount of information provided by management accounting information systems (MAIS). To demonstrate these differences, data were collected from samples of Australian and Korean firms. The results of this study showed that much more flexibility performance information is provided by Korean firms, while Australian firms provided more quality performance and traditional cost control information (TCCI). We also investigated whether the interaction effects of advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) and information on the improvement of production performance were culturally different. According to the results, we suggest that with a high level of AMT, Korean firms require more types of information (i.e. quality performance information, flexibility performance information, financial performance information, advanced cost control information, and TCCI), while Australian firms generally demand flexibility performance, quality performance, and advanced cost control information.