The Impact of Ethical Perceptions on Trust in Persuasive Technologies

Abstract

Persuasive technologies are increasingly embedded in areas such as health, education, and e-commerce, raising ethical concerns about their influence on user autonomy, privacy, consent, and trust. While prior theoretical work emphasizes the importance of ethical design for building trustworthy systems, there remains limited empirical evidence quantifying how specific ethical factors shape user trust in persuasive technologies. This study examines the relationship between users’ ethical perceptions and trust in persuasive technologies using survey data analyzed through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. The results show that autonomy and security are significant predictors of trust, whereas privacy, consent, and transparency do not have a meaningful influence in this context. These findings suggest that not all ethical design dimensions contribute equally to trust formation, underscoring the need for more targeted and context-sensitive approaches to ethical system design and governance. The study concludes with design and policy recommendations, including autonomy-preserving interaction mechanisms, visible security assurances, and governance tools such as digital nutrition labels and ethical impact statements to support trustworthy, persuasive technologies.