Willingness to accept metaverse safety training for construction workers based on extended UTAUT

Abstract

Safety training (ST) is essential in avoiding unsafe behavior of construction workers. With the rise of metaverse technology, metaverse safety training (MST) has gradually become a new model to guide construction workers in safety production. An in-depth study of construction workers' willingness to accept the metaverse safety training (WAMST) helps improve its effectiveness, but studies need to pay more attention to it. This study constructs a conceptual model of WAMST for construction workers, and the influencing factors of WAMST are explained based on the extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). It established a Structural equation modeling to verify the relationship between influencing factors. An example verifies the feasibility of the model. The results show that the framework significantly contributes to the willingness of construction workers to participate and improves safety awareness. Specifically, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and convenient conditions significantly affect the construction workers' willingness to accept. Convenient conditions have a direct effect on actual behavior. Willingness to accept plays a mediating role between performance expectancy and actual behavior. Perceived trust moderates the effect between willingness to accept and actual behavior, and the force of positive interpretation increases proportionally. It confirms how to improve the safety capacity of construction workers and provides references for governments, enterprises, and projects to formulate ST strategies.

Keywords: construction worker; metaverse; safety training; structural equation modeling; unified theory of acceptance and use of technology.