Persuasion and Culture: Individualism-Collectivism and Susceptibility to Influence Strategies

Personalizing persuasive technology increases their efficacy at influencing the desired behavior change. This paper explores how the responsiveness to Cialdini’s six persuasive strategies (authority, reciprocity, scarcity, liking, commitment, and consensus) vary by cultural background. The results of a large-scale study of 335 participants suggest that individualists and collectivists differ significantly with respect to their susceptibility to the strategies – with collectivists being more susceptible to most of the strategies. Some strategies are more suitable for persuading one cultural group than the other. Finally, the results show that irrespective of culture, some strategies are more persuasive overall and therefore more likely to influence participants from both cultures.