The Effect of Culture on Usability: Comparing the Perceptions and Performance of Taiwanese and North American MP3 Player Users
http://www.upassoc.org/upa_publications/jus/2009may/wallace1.html
  peer-reviewed

Wallace, Steve and Hsiao-Cheng Yu
Journal of Usability Studies
2009

Abstract:

A study of how 23 Taiwanese and North American subjects use a consumer electronic product shows that culture strongly affects the usability of the product. Survey data shows that North American users had much lower levels of user satisfaction and perceptions of effectiveness and efficiency than Taiwanese users. On the other hand, results on performance were unclear, indicating similar levels of effectiveness for both cultural groups and conflicting results on levels of efficiency.