Is installing applications from within standard account more secure than admin account?

Anybody with expertise in MacOS application installation and/or its internals?

My Main Question:

Are the following two scenarios equivalent with regard to computer security in MacOS (version 10.12.xx Sierra and beyond):

Scenario (A): Installing an application from within an ADMINISTRATOR account. (“Installation” consists of dragging and dropping the desired icon to the “Applications” folder.)

OR

Scenario (B): Installing an application from within a STANDARD account (via drag-n-drop into the “Applications” folder), and then you have to supply your administrator account name and password to allow the installation to continue.

If the answer is that they are not equivalent (I.e. B is safer), I might have to wipe the hard drive and reinstall MacOS, which I’d prefer not to do...

The Context of My Question:

I just installed an application which I downloaded directly from its creators’ website , as opposed to using the Apple “App Store”. I trust the application vendor in that the application has been used for almost two decades by hundreds of millions of people. I would always operate the application from within a STANDARD account, not ADMINISTRATOR.

But now I have nagging doubts that I installed it in a way that protected the integrity of my Mac; I installed it under Scenario A. (I later tested and found that I could have installed it under scenario B). If scenario A is less secure, then I wonder if I should wipe out the hard-drive and reinstall MacOS from scratch. Or perhaps I am obsessing over nothing; perhaps either way I could have installed it would have produced the same outcome, either equally insecure or secure.

Elaboration and Clarifications of My Question:

I am aware that differences exists among the root user and administrator/standard accounts, but I am fuzzy on if, when, and/or how the installation of applications crosses the boundaries.

In scenario (B), I initially thought that supplying your administrator credentials would be similar to using the Unix “su” or “login” commands, which could allow subsequent installer actions to be executed with administrator (possibly root) privileges. Thus scenarios (A) and (B) would be equivalent. Unfortunately in both cases, a rogue installer could overwrite any file in the system, which would be a security risk. However, this assumes (incorrectly?) that the installer is an executable written by the non-Apple software vendor (similar to InstallShield under Microsoft Windows).

But is MacOS installation different? When the user drags and drops the application icon into the application folder:

1) is the application vendor supplying a PASSIVE set of configuration data, upon which an Apple-written-executable-supplied-within-MacOS operates? if this is how installation works, then both (A) and (B) scenarios would appear to be equivalently safe (i.e., MacOS could prevent the overwriting of administrator files and possibly system files).

or

2) is MacOS recognizing that the drag-and-drop action is an installation, and therefore launches the app-vendor-written installation executable with the PRIVILEGES OF THE CURRENT USER (and MacOS asks for administrator credentials only at the precise moment when files need to be copied to the Applications folder)? Then scenarios (A) and (B) might be different, and (B) would be slightly safer (since the installer is running with privileges of the STANDARD user and the Unix file permissions mechanism alone would prevent a rogue installer from overwriting administrator/system files ).

Thanks in advance for your answers... (If the answer is that they are not equivalent, I might have to wipe the hard drive and reinstall MacOS, which I’d prefer not to do...)

Keywords: MacOS, application, install, installation, installing, security, file privileges, root, administrator account, standard account