Effects of training methods and incentives on public participation in community emergency training: a national survey experiment from China

Community-based approaches are vital for effective disaster risk management. However, sustaining public engagement remains a persistent challenge, and stronger evidence on how to do so is still needed. To enrich this knowledge, we conducted a nationwide survey of 14,570 individuals across 335 Chinese prefectures to evaluate how training formats and incentives influence willingness to participate (WTP) in community disaster risk reduction programmes. Using a 2 × 2 factorial design, we manipulated the training format (lecture vs. CPR practice) and reward type (certificate vs. emergency kit) as the predicting variables. The results demonstrate that participation is the highest for CPR training paired with an emergency kit. Notably, we identified a significant interaction effect that material reward (emergency kit) disproportionately boosted WTP for passive formats (lecture), whereas non-material reward (certificate) was more effective for practical sessions (CPR). These findings demonstrate that strategically matching training formats to complementary rewards can substantially enhance public engagement and ultimately strengthen community resilience.