Investigation of the Influence of Personality Traits on Cialdini's Persuasive Strategies

For persuasive strategies to be effective, research has shown, there is need for personalization. However, little has been done in persuasive technology research to investigate the influence of personality on persuasive strategies. In this paper, using a sample of 216 Canadians, we model the influence of the Big Five personality traits on Cialdini’s six persuasive principles. Our results reveal that individuals: 1) high in Conscientiousness are more susceptible to Commitment and Reciprocity, but less susceptible to Liking; 2) high in Agreeableness are more susceptible to Authority, Commitment and Liking; 3) low in Openness are more susceptible to Authority, Consensus and Liking; and 4) high in Neuroticism are more susceptible to Consensus. These findings provide designers with insight into how persuasive apps can be tailored to different personality traits based on the Big Five model.