How Can Organisations Engage with 

Chinese-Speaking Audiences in Australia via Websites?

1. Introduction

This research report is written grounded on PC4’s needs to achieve higher awareness, knowledge, and engagement among consumers in Australia...

Many global organisations have leveraged websites to communicate with a wide range of audiences. A successful website enables organisations to “convert ‘tourists/browsers’ to ‘residents/customers’” (Marcus & Gould, 2000)... The website has potential power for PC4 to engage with Chinese-speaking audiences in Australia.

Nevertheless, web users’ preferences are influenced by their cultures (Nizamani et al., 2018). Web users tend to like web design that reflects their cultures and prefer to read the web content in their languages (Nizamani et al., 2018; Robbins & Stylianou, 2003), which means those who speak Chinese are more likely to visit Chinese-language websites and those that reflect Chinese culture. Even though target audiences live in Australia, Lee and Haley (2019) validate that multiple cultures can exist within a country. Likewise, some core cultural values are among the Chinese-speaking people, regardless of where they live (Capece & Di Pillo, 2021; Fan, 2000). To build long-term positive relationships with Chinese-speaking audiences, PC4 needs to develop Chinese-language websites that express Chinese culture rather than using the machine text translation (Danet & Herring, 2003; Huizingh, 2000; Singh & Pereira, 2005). However, the extent of cultural adaptation remains a question. Therefore, it is necessary to research how Australian and Chinese cultures vary and what web aspects differ across cultures.

Under this context, this research focuses on cross-cultural web communications between Australia and China, aiming to answer how healthcare organisations can effectively engage with Chinese-speaking audiences in Australia via websites. Scholarly literature is reviewed to identify the analytical framework. Industry research is also conducted to understand current industry situations. Then, three... organisations’ Australian and Chinese websites are selected for textual analysis. Findings from the analysis would provide organisations... with insights about cross-cultural web communications and practical solutions to establish and maintain positive relationships with Chinese-speaking audiences in Australia...