Towards a Cross-Cultural Framework for Dark Patterns

Abstract

Dark patterns are manipulative interface design strategies that exploit cognitive biases and information asymmetries to steer users toward outcomes that benefit providers at users’ expense. While existing research has made considerable progress in cataloguing and classifying these patterns, it largely assumes a uniform user response, leaving unexplained why the same interface mechanism may affect different users in different ways. This proposal outlines a six-phase PhD research program aimed at developing and validating a Cross-Cultural Framework for Dark Patterns that accounts for cultural, linguistic, and individual differences in user susceptibility. The program integrates two systematic literature reviews, a multi-layered coding schema operationalizing cultural susceptibility profiles, two qualitative user studies examining power distance and individualism–collectivism orientations, and a schema validation study combining expert judgment, LLM-simulated evaluation, and intercoder reliability testing. Findings are consolidated into a unified framework intended to advance scholarly understanding of dark patterns and inform the design of more ethical digital interfaces and evidence-based regulation.