The role of culture in e-commerce use for the Egyptian consumers Ghada Refaat El Said Education Reform Program, Cairo, Egypt and Department of Information System, Computing, and Mathematics, Brunel University, UK, and Galal H. Galal-Edeen Department of Information Systems, Faculty of Computers and Informatics, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to systematically research and characterise the cultural response of a particular culture in the use of e-commerce systems. The research paper highlights the roles of trust, uncertainty avoidance (UA), internet store familiarity, and reputation as the main salient factors affecting the perception of the targeted group toward e-commerce. Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs a laboratory experiential survey with 370 Egyptian internet users during an internet shopping experience. The results are analysed using a number of statistical techniques including structural equation modelling. Findings – The research highlights the significant role of the internet store’s perceived familiarity and reputation as the main antecedents of online trust. The relationship between trust and its two antecedents are found to be culturally sensitive; the high UA of the consumer is found to be associated with a stronger effect of the store’s reputation on trust, and a stronger effect of the store’s familiarity on trust. Research limitations/implications – This research deals with intentions, not actual e-commerce behaviour. However, there is a general consensus amongst researchers to assume that the degree to which people express their intentions to buy from an internet site is a reasonable predictor of the actual purchase behaviour. Also, UA, which is posited in this research as an important element of e-commerce adoption, may have a different effect on the actual purchase behaviour. Originality/value – The paper examines the interaction of a certain sub-type of the Arab culture with various elements that are assumed to affect on-line purchasing behaviour, which has not been examined in this depth elsewhere in the literature. Keywords Electronic commerce, National cultures, Consumer behaviour, Trust, Egypt, Systems analysis Paper type Research paper 1. Introduction Culture is used to name a group of individuals sharing a similar way of thinking, feeling or behaving (Thomas, 1997). There are a number of existing models, which aim to broadly classify different cultures according to particular variables. Hofstede’s (1991) cultural model is the one considered in this paper as it serves as the most influential model within social science research (Pavlou and Chai, 2002). The focus of the current paper is the possible relationship between one particular cultural variable, uncertainty avoidance (UA), and e-commerce adoption and use. According to Hofstede’s (2001) theory, members of cultures, which are high in UA, are typically averse to taking actions with an uncertain outcome. The role of UA had been The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/1463-7154.htm BPMJ 15,1 34 Business Process Management Journal Vol. 15 No. 1, 2009 pp. 34-47 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1463-7154 DOI 10.1108/14637150910931451