Perceptions of the use of virtual reality games for chemical engineering education and professional training

Figures & data

Figure 1. The modified UTAUT2 model

Table 1. Descriptive statistics, internal consistent reliability, and convergent validity of constructs for students

Constructs	Items	Mean	Standard Deviation	Cronbach’s Alpha	CR^a	AVE^a
Performance Expectancy	PE1	4.667	0.816	0.798	0.863	0.677
	PE2	4.667	0.861
	PE3	4.593	1.063
Effort Expectancy	EE1	4.889	0.737	0.822	0.867	0.69
	EE2	4.741	0.843
	EE3	4.815	0.818
Social Influence	SI1	3.000	1.155	0.616	0.772	0.535
	SI2	3.852	1.145
	SI3	3.926	1.086
Hedonic Motivation	HM1	4.963	0.881	0.718	0.753	0.517
	HM2	4.963	0.693
	HM3	4.593	1.163
Behavioural Intentions	BI1	3.963	0.962	0.837	0.902	0.754
	BI2	4.000	1.018
	BI3	4.037	1.071

^a– Composite Reliability

^a– Average Variance Extracted

Ratings are on a 6-point Likert Scale: 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = disagree 3 = slightly disagree 4 = slightly agree 5 = agree 6 = strongly agree

Table 2. Discriminant validity analysis using Fornrell-Larcker criterion for students

	PE	EE	SI	HM	BI
PE	0.823
EE	0.177	0.830
SI	0.042	−0.008	0.732
HM	0.619	0.423	−0.087	0.719
BI	0.515	−0.295	0.305	0.324	0.869

Note:The boldfaced numbers are the square root of AVE; the other numbers are the correlation coefficient between constructs.

Table 3. Descriptive statistics, internal consistent reliability, and convergent validity of constructs for professionals

Constructs	Items	Mean	Standard Deviation	Cronbach’s Alpha	CR^a	AVE^b
Performance Expectancy	PE_1	5.056	0.916	0.921	0.95	0.863
	PE_2	5.101	0.835
	PE_3	4.753	0.903
Effort Expectancy	EE_1	5.011	0.772	0.731	0.881	0.787
	EE_2	4.674	0.969
	EE_3*
Social Influence	SI_1	4.169	1.124	0.792	0.878	0.706
	SI_2	3.775	1.129
	SI_3	4.067	1.130
Hedonic Motivation	HM_1	4.449	1.180	0.711	0.837	0.632
	HM_2	5.146	0.855
	HM_3	4.326	0.992
Behavioural Intention	BI_1	4.820	0.919	0.913	0.946	0.853
	BI_2	4.798	0.889
	BI_3	4.831	0.797

* – Removed due to the lack of outer loading reliability (< 0.7)

^a– Composite Reliability

^b– Average Variance Extracted

Ratings are on a 6-point Likert Scale: 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = disagree 3 = slightly disagree 4 = slightly agree 5 = agree 6 = strongly agree

Table 4. Discriminant validity analysis using Fornrell-Larcker criterion for professionals

	PE	EE	SI	HM	BI
PE	0.929
EE	0.673	0.887
SI	0.419	0.429	0.840
HM	0.523	0.587	0.147	0.795
BI	0.690	0.692	0.394	0.617	0.923

The boldfaced numbers are the square root of AVE; the other numbers are the correlation coefficient between constructs.

Table 5. A comparison of students and professionals on mean scores

Ranks					Test Statistics
	Population	N	Mean Rank	Sum of Ranks	Mann-Whitney U	Z	P
PE	Professionals	89	62.03	5521.00	887.00	−2.080	0.038
	Students	27	46.85	1265.00
	Total	116
EE	Professionals	89	55.65	4953.00	984.00	−1.677	0.094
	Students	27	67.89	1833.00
	Total	116
SI	Professionals	89	61.84	5504.00	904.00	−1.962	0.050
	Students	27	47.48	1282.00
	Total	116
HM	Professionals	89	56.28	5009.00	1004.00	−1.307	0.191
	Students	27	65.81	1777.00
	Total	116
BI	Professionals	89	65.13	5796.50	611.50	−3.937	0.000
	Students	27	36.65	989.50
	Total	116

Professionals questionnaire

Items	6-point Likert Scale
	Strongly agree	Agree	Slightly agree	Slightly disagree	Disagree	Strongly disagree
1. I think that using the VR environment will be useful for practicing H&S procedures.
2. Using VR environment will probably enable me to learn the H&S procedures more quickly.
3. If I use this VR environment, I will improve my performance on H&S procedures.
4. I think using the VR environment will be clear and understandable.
5. I think that it will be easy for me to operate the platform in which the VR environment is running.
6. I think that the organization will support me in learning how to use the VR environment.
7. People who influence my behavior at work think that I should use this VR environment.
8. I think my supervisor will be very supportive of the use of this VR environment for my job.
9. I feel that it will be a bad idea to use the VR environment for H&S training.
10. I think that the actual process of using the VR environment for H&S training is fun.
11. I think that using VR environment for H&S training will be very frustrating.
12. If made available to me, I would recommend using the VR environment for learning to apply the H&S procedures to my colleagues.
13. If made available to me, I plan to continue to use VR environment for H&S training frequently.
14. I think that after using the VR for H&S training, I will be ready to use this learning environment for another training course.

Students’ questionnaire

Items	6-point Likert Scale
	Strongly agree	Agree	Slightly agree	Slightly disagree	Disagree	Strongly disagree
1. I think that I would find Virtual Reality game useful for Health and Safety education
2. I think that using Virtual Reality game would increase my Health and Safety knowledge
3. I think that using Virtual Reality game would increase my Health and Safety knowledge
4. I expect that my interaction with the Virtual Reality game would be clear and understandable
5. I expect that it would be easy for me to become skillful at using Virtual Reality game for Health and Safety learning
6. I expect to find the Virtual Reality game easy to use
7. My teachers think that it is important that I use Virtual Reality game for Health and Safety education
8. My peers will be supportive of my use of Virtual Reality game for learning purpose
9. My teacher will be very supportive of my use of the Virtual Reality game for Health and Safety learning
10. I think that playing Virtual Reality game is boring
11. I think that playing Virtual Reality game is fun
12. Virtual Reality games will not hold my attention
13. I intend to use VR game for H&S education as soon as it’s made available at the university
14. I plan to use VR game to improve my learning effectiveness in H&S education
15. I predict that I will use VR game for H&S education in the future