Warning messages to modify safety behavior during crisis situations: A virtual reality study

Abstract Warning messages received on a mobile phone have the potential to warn the population of imminent hazards or crises. Giving information about a crisis can be helpful for people to show adequate safety behavior and prevent harm. A virtual reality (VR) experiment was conducted to investigate the influence of a received warning message via mobile phone app regarding a thunderstorm on people's safety behavior. Thirty-one people completed a practice and experimental scenario in VR. Every participant explored a city in the experimental scenario, but the intervention group (IG) received a warning message which contained information about an approaching thunderstorm. The control group did not receive such message. The safety behavior was measured by comparing the time and distance the participants needed to achieve a self-chosen safe zone. In result, the intervention group needed less time and used shorter routes to reach a safe zone in contrast to the control group. By contrast, the giving information via virtual mobile phone app can help to investigate behavior in crises and evaluate crisis communication in a realistic simulation.