Advancing Typology of Computer-Supported Influence: Moderation Effects in Socially Influencing Systems

Persuasive technologies are commonly engineered to change behavior and attitudes of users through persuasion and social influence without using coercion and deception. While earlier research has been extensively focused on exploring the concept of persuasion, the present theory-refining study aims to explain the role of social influence and its distinctive characteristics in the field of persuasive technology. Based on a list of notable differences, this study outlines how both persuasion and social influence can be best supported through computing systems and introduces a notion of computer-moderated influence, thus extending the influence typology. The novel type of influence tends to be more salient for socially influencing systems, which informs designers to be mindful when engineering such technologies. The study provides sharper conceptual representation of key terms in persuasive engineering, drafts a structured approach for better understanding of the influence typology, and presents how computers can be moderators of social influence.