Metaverse beyond the hype: Multidisciplinary perspectives on emerging challenges, opportunities, and agenda for research, practice and policy

Abstract

The metaverse has the potential to extend the physical world using augmented and virtual reality technologies allowing users to seamlessly interact within real and simulated environments using avatars and holograms. Virtual environments and immersive games (such as, Second Life, Fortnite, Roblox and VRChat) have been described as antecedents of the metaverse and offer some insight to the potential socio-economic impact of a fully functional persistent cross platform metaverse. Separating the hype and “meta…” rebranding from current reality is difficult, as “big tech” paints a picture of the transformative nature of the metaverse and how it will positively impact people in their work, leisure, and social interaction. The potential impact on the way we conduct business, interact with brands and others, and develop shared experiences is likely to be transformational as the distinct lines between physical and digital are likely to be somewhat blurred from current perceptions. However, although the technology and infrastructure does not yet exist to allow the development of new immersive virtual worlds at scale - one that our avatars could transcend across platforms, researchers are increasingly examining the transformative impact of the metaverse. Impacted sectors include marketing, education, healthcare as well as societal effects relating to social interaction factors from widespread adoption, and issues relating to trust, privacy, bias, disinformation, application of law as well as psychological aspects linked to addiction and impact on vulnerable people. This study examines these topics in detail by combining the informed narrative and multi-perspective approach from experts with varied disciplinary backgrounds on many aspects of the metaverse and its transformational impact. The paper concludes by proposing a future research agenda that is valuable for researchers, professionals and policy makers alike.

Keywords

Affiliated Institutions

• BI Norwegian Business School
• Audencia Business School FR
• University of Piraeus GR
• King Abdulaziz University SA
• University of Cyprus CY
• Indian Institute of Management Shillong IN
• Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur IN
• Newcastle University GB
• Curtin University AU
• Swansea University GB
• Fundação Getulio Vargas BR
• Hong Kong Polytechnic University HK
• Nanchang Institute of Technology CN
• Norwegian University of Science and Technology
• University of Limerick IE
• Universität der Bundeswehr München DE
• Delft University of Technology NL
• Laboratoire en Innovation, Technologies, Economie et Management
• University of Georgia US
• Hong Kong Baptist University HK
• IPAG Business School FR
• UCSI University MY
• Sejong University KR
• EAE Business School ES
• École Supérieure de Commerce de Toulouse FR
• ESIC Business & Marketing School
• Al-Ahliyya Amman University JO
• International University of Rabat MA
• Montpellier Business School FR
• Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad IN
• University of Agder
• Liverpool College GB
• Korea University KR
• Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo
• University of Portsmouth GB
• University of North Carolina at Greensboro US
• Indian Institute of Management Mumbai IN
• The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley US

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