Virtual Reality’s Influence on Construction Workers’ Willingness to Participate in Safety Education and Training in China

Construction workers’ willingness to participate in safety education and training (SET) greatly influences its effect and is important for improving safety. The development of virtual reality (VR) has innovated the SET method, but previous research has primarily focused on related technologies and application areas. The detailed mechanism of how VR influences construction workers’ willingness to participate in SET is understudied. To address this gap, this paper constructed an extended model based on the technology acceptance model (TAM) and developed structural equation modeling (SEM) based on 8 variables and 23 measures. A total of 200 valid samples in China were obtained by questionnaire, and the influence mechanism was examined after hypothesis testing and statistical analysis. The results show that the influence of VR on the willingness of construction workers mainly includes three paths: (1) VR acts on the four perception variables, thereby affecting the attitude toward using and ultimately the willingness of workers to participate in SET; (2) VR acts on the four perception variables, among which perceived interactivity, perceived ease of use, and perceived interest affect the flow experience, which in turn affects the attitude toward using, and ultimately workers’ willingness; and (3) VR acts on the four perception variables, among which the perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived interest directly affect workers’ willingness. The results indicate several ways to increase the willingness of construction workers to participate in SET, among which the key elements include improving workers’ perceptions, feelings, flow experience, and attitude toward using it. Then, practical countermeasures to improve VR’s effects are provided. The findings of this study help enrich the theory of SET and lay the theoretical foundation for VR’s application in SET. This study also sheds light on practical innovation and the popularization of VR in the construction industry.