Exploring Recovery Exercises to Enhance Construction Workers’ Willingness for Career Continuity under the Dual-Process Theory: A Perspective from Physical Exercise

Globally, the construction industry is facing a severe labor shortage, and attracting and retaining workers has become a pressing challenge. This study examined the effect of rehabilitation exercise on construction workers’ willingness to sustain their careers through a questionnaire survey of 479 construction workers using a quantitative research methodology. It aims to reveal how the self-efficacy, perceived usefulness, and self-regulation of rehabilitation exercise affect construction workers’ occupational sustainability through physical and psychological recovery. The results of the study show that (1) the rehabilitation exercise self-efficacy and perceived usefulness of recovery exercise positively affect construction workers’ career sustainability intentions and (2) psychological recovery and physical recovery play parallel mediating roles in the effects of rehabilitation exercise self-efficacy, the perceived usefulness of recovery exercise, and self-regulation of recovery exercise on construction workers’ career sustainability intentions. The findings suggest that improving the physical and psychological capital of construction workers through recovery exercise can effectively enhance their career commitment and willingness to be sustainable. This study provides a reference for the design of more comprehensive and systematic rehabilitation and health management programs in the future and offers suggestions from the perspective of recovery exercise for the development of sustainable construction workers.