Comparing the Cultural Dimensions and Learner's Perceived Effectiveness of Online Learning Systems (OLS) among American and Malaysian Learners

With the rapid and exponential growth of Internet use worldwide, online learning has become one of the
most widely used learning paradigms in the education environment. Yet despite the rapidly increasing
cultural diversity of online learners, few studies have investigated the effectiveness of cross-cultural Online
Learning Systems (OLS) using a suitable measurement to answer the question, “Do culturally different
learners perceive OLS effectiveness differently?” The aim of this comparative study was to gain a better
understanding of OLS effectiveness in a non-western culture by comparing cultural dimensions and
learners’ perceived effectiveness of OLS (across the four pillars: technology/support, course, professor, &
learner) among American and Malaysian learners. Results show that American learners perceived a
slightly higher OLS effectiveness in terms of the course and professor pillars than Malaysian learners. In
other words, the findings indicated that the cultural dimensions distinguishing American and Malaysian
learners influenced those two groups’ perceived effectiveness of the course and professor pillars of the
OLS.