Do Cialdini’s Persuasion Principles Still Influence Trust and Risk-Taking When Social Engineering is Knowingly Possible?

Despite recognizing the applicability of Cialdini's principles in social engineering context, studies on their effectiveness needed more tailored and validated tests, primary data collection, and multicultural samples. Cialdini's six persuasion principles include reciprocity, commitment, liking, scarcity, social proof, and authority. We designed and face validated 12 scenarios representing the presence and absence of each principle in a situation where an acquaintance prompts online group members to install an app for testing and improving it. Through an online survey with 314 UK and 328 Arab participants, we collected data on the impact of persuasion principles on risk taking, i.e., to accept installing and trying the app, and trust in the requester, who might be knowingly a social engineer. Results across both cultural frameworks indicate significant impacts, with Social Proof and Authority being the most influential, and Scarcity the least, yet still significant. Interestingly, the principles not only influenced the decision to take the risk but also affected trust in the potential social engineer. This holds true even in less intuitive scenarios, representing Scarcity and Commitment/Consistency principles. This applies to two distinctive cultural frameworks, Arab and British, increasing robustness. The research also investigates the relationship between security attitudes, measured through SA-6 scale, and susceptibility to these principles, in terms of trust and risk taking, revealing surprising results of positive correlations. These findings emphasize the need for cybersecurity strategies that include awareness of psychological manipulation alongside technical knowledge, catering to different cultural contexts.