Ecosystem-Level Manipulation: How Digital Choice Architecture and Dark Patterns Reconfigure Consumer Autonomy in E-Commerce Frameworks
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Modern e-commerce ecosystems increasingly leverage advanced behavioral analytics to deploy dynamic digital choice architectures. While choice architecture can optimize user navigation, its subversion into "dark patterns", manipulative user interface designs present a systemic threat to consumer autonomy. This paper conceptualizes and quantifies Ecosystem-Level Manipulation (ELM) within e-commerce platforms. We develop a socio-technical framework to evaluate how systemic dark patterns reconfigure user decision-making processes. Utilizing an empirical choice experiment (N = 1,200), we model the degradation of consumer autonomy using modified discrete choice equations. Our findings indicate that combined dark patterns create a compounding cognitive tax, reducing autonomous choice velocity by 42% and increasing involuntary cart conversions by 68%. Finally, we contribute a set of "De-Biased Design Principles" as an Information Systems Design Theory (ISDT) countermeasure to safeguard consumer agency.
DOI: 10.66074/h1q6f9m3t
Authors: Benzar Glen Grepon, Charry Mae Cepada
Institution: Northern Bukidnon State College
Language: English
Subfield: General Decision Sciences
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7203867677
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