The Efficacy Feedback Loop: How Perceived Persuasion Success Changes Future Argument Strategies

Drawing from the self-efficacy work in entrepreneurship by Zakaria et al. (2025) and the persuasion knowledge model by Isaac and Calder (2024), this research explores a fascinating gap: how does believing you're good (or bad) at persuasion actually change your persuasion strategies and effectiveness over time? I suspect there's a feedback loop where people who think they're persuasive become more confident and take more risks with novel arguments, potentially becoming more effective, while those who doubt their skills stick to safer, less effective tactics. This could be studied longitudinally, tracking people's persuasion attempts and their evolving strategies and beliefs about their own effectiveness. The research might reveal that actual persuasion skill matters less than perceived efficacy in determining persuasive success - a finding that would have huge implications for everything from sales training to education. It could also explain why some people seem to get better at persuasion while others stagnate, regardless of actual practice or talent.

References:

1. Financial Literacy, Digital Adoption, Social Persuasion and Entrepreneurial Business Performance Towards Achieving Sustainable Development Goals of Decent Works & Economic Growth: Self-Efficacy as a Mediator. Maheran Zakaria, M. Marzuki, Wan Zurina Nik Abdul Majid, Siti Dalina Tumiran Kamal Nasser, Junaidah Hanim Ahmad (2025). Journal of Lifestyle and SDGs Review.
2. Thirty years of persuasion knowledge research: From demonstrating effects to building theory to increasing applicability. Mathew S. Isaac, Bobby J. Calder (2024). Consumer Psychology Review.