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Abstract
This special issue call for papers (SI-CFP) invites original research on the evolving landscape of Information Systems (IS) research on metaverses, focusing on their technological, social, and economic value dimensions. Despite its growing significance, scholarly efforts are needed to comprehend the metaverse's impact on human life. IS research on the metaverse should evolve, exploring novel avatar-based communication, blockchain governance, and AI's role. This SI-CFP highlights the urgency to keep pace with such technological advancements and understand societal implications. It is particularly interested in studies on value creation within the metaverse that advance our understanding of its value creation from perspectives like technology, user experience, economics, social dynamics, ethics, and education. Submission guidelines, a paper development workshop, and important dates are outlined, fostering innovative IS research.
Keywords: Metaverse, value creation, augmented reality, Blockchain.
Introduction
Information systems (IS) research has long studied virtual worlds and metaverses as Internet-based three-dimensional environments where users interact through avatars. It closely studies the evolution of these environments into sophisticated social systems for collaboration from technology, people, information, process, and leadership perspectives (Boughzala et al., 2012; Davis et al., 2009). The discipline has emphasized the potential of metaverses and proposed conceptual models based on the Metaverse itself, people/avatars, technology capabilities, behaviors, and outcomes. It has also explored the socio-technical aspects of metaverse technology, highlighting key issues and challenges to shape the future of metaverse research. As technology evolves, the convergence of augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), Blockchain, and other immersive technologies presents a paradigm shift in how value is created for individuals, organizations, and society in metaverse environments.
Background
The term "metaverse" is a fusion of "meta" (signifying transcendency) and "verse" (indicating 'universe'). It characterizes a persistent and immersive three-dimensional online environment where users, embodied as avatars, engage socially and economically creatively and collaboratively within virtual spaces detached from the tangible physical world (Ritterbusch & Teichmann, 2023). This concept has become prominent in recent years due to the influence of multinational technology conglomerates like Meta (formerly Facebook) and the growing interest in Industry 4.0 technologies like Blockchain, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and Cryptocurrencies (Richter & Richter, 2023; Ritterbusch & Teichmann, 2023). Virtual
environments like Second Life, Fortnite, Roblox, and VRChat offer insights into the metaverse's potential social, economic, and environmental impact (Dwivedi et al., 2022). Despite the lack of a definitive scientific consensus on the metaverse's nature, understanding its social, economic, and environmental implications, along with the necessary preconditions for successful implementation are critical (Dwivedi et al., 2022; Ritterbusch & Teichmann, 2023).
Bibliometric studies map the "metaverse" origins to Neal Stephenson's 1992 novel Snow Crash, highlighting its evolution with technological advancements and transformative impacts in education, healthcare, and business (Abbate et al., 2022; Wider et al., 2023). Despite the metaverse's growing significance, these studies emphasize the necessity for more scholarly efforts to increase understanding of how the metaverse can create value for human life. Extant literature reviews summarize metaverse definitions, underlying technologies, applications in specific areas, and challenges faced, offering insights into the dynamics of metaverse research and proposing future research directions (Firmansyah & Umar, 2023; Gao et al., 2023; Lacity et al., 2023; Richter & Richter, 2023). Among them are the need to keep up with metaverse-related technological advancements, detailed promotion of metaverse applications, increased studies on user engagement, exploration of social and personal impacts, and attention to studies on deviant behaviors resulting from the Metaverse (Gao et al., 2023). In business research, most studies are qualitative and conceptual, with marketing being the dominant area of exploration, emphasizing topics related to how businesses can leverage the metaverse for customer attraction, retention, operational improvement, and streamlining processes (Firmansyah & Umar, 2023; Polyviou & Pappas, 2023).
Nevertheless, IS research on the metaverses is also evolving. For example, recent studies investigate avatar-mediated communication (AMC), prevalent in the evolving metaverse through a human-object-object-human dynamic, where individuals communicate through avatars based on new economic and social paradigms (Al-Sharafi et al., 2023; Teng et al., 2023; Wang et al., 2024). Studies have explored governance in the metaverse's technological landscape, revealing limitations in Blockchain governance for a neutral metaverse (Goldberg & Schär, 2023). Some delve into artificial intelligence's role in the metaverse (Huynh-The et al., 2023). Despite challenges distinguishing the transformative promises from reality amidst "big tech" hype, there are hints of the metaverse's potential for value creation in businesses considering social interaction, trust, privacy, bias, disinformation, legal applications, and psychological effects (Alashoor et al., 2023; Y. Chen et al., 2024; Dwivedi et al., 2022). This evolving landscape prompts a nuanced exploration of the metaverse's multifaceted value-creation opportunities and challenges.
Value creation in the metaverse
The metaverse is an incremental rather than radical technological evolution whose groundwork was laid by precursor virtual worlds like Second Life. Immersion, social networking, persistence, and interoperability are typical user experience attributes that mark the evolution of earlier virtual worlds towards today's metaverse. Extended reality (ER) technologies enable real-time interactions and experiences not possible in the physical world or previous virtual worlds, creating new opportunities for the metaverse to create value in different sectors like marketing, tourism, manufacturing, education, and healthcare (Koohang et al., 2023). Today's metaverse also consists of various digital platforms and ecosystems, each functioning as an independent universe (Schöbel & Leimeister, 2023). Thus, complementors, consumers, platform owners, and orchestrators in metaverse ecosystems have roles and responsibilities in value creation opportunities for digital innovations across various domains in the digital
economy. For example, cryptocurrencies, algorithmic collectibles, and NFTs are changing the dynamics of money, possessions, and ownership in the metaverse, creating new forms of ownership in context, including fractional ownership and fractionalized property rights (Belk et al., 2022). New business models in virtual environments are also being developed, defining a new economy within metaverses. The cases of Gucci, Samsung, Hyundai, and Nike provide insights into value mechanisms in the metaverse that can inspire organizations towards business model innovations through "phygital" transformations and virtual immersions (Mancuso et al., 2023).
Furthermore, exploring social value within the metaverse is a multifaceted endeavor, as evidenced by Alfaisal et al. (2024) systematic literature review. Choi and Kim (2017) highlight the integration of AR and virtual worlds in museums, aiming to enhance visitors' experiences and deepen their understanding of exhibited artifacts. Capatina et al. (2024) delve into the transformative potential of the metaverse in education, emphasizing the creation of immersive learning experiences to elevate students' lives in a secure digital environment. Beyond the educational realm, the metaverse holds promise in the health sector, with J. Chen et al. (2023) highlighting its application in predicting the utility of health information for health solutions in the metaverse from modal behaviors. Meanwhile, examining the metaverse's environmental impact, as presented by Kshetri and Dwivedi (2023), reveals a dichotomy – both pollution-reducing and pollution-generating effects. Pellegrino et al. (2023) further contribute to this discourse by exploring the intersection of sustainable consumption and the metaverse, offering a comprehensive review of current literature and calling for future research directions in this dynamic space.
Call for Papers
This special issue of the Journal of Enterprise Information Management seeks to explore the multifaceted dimensions of value creation within the metaverse. We aim to assemble a collection of cutting-edge research that delves into the complex interplay of technology, user experience, economics, social dynamics, ethics, and education for value creation within this virtual realm. By addressing these critical aspects, this special issue provides a comprehensive understanding of the metaverse's impact on information systems and its value-creation implications for individuals, businesses, and society.
Topics of interest
We invite submissions that address the following topics:
• Decentralized autonomous organizations in the metaverse
• Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and asset tokenization
• Gamification in the metaverse for business and market research
• Virtual office in the metaverse
• NFTs, customer experience & distribution channels
• Metaverse design features & magnitude of experiences
• New forms of cyber-attacks related to the metaverse
• Metaverse governance
• Digital marketing, ethics, and metaverse
• Metaverse and product innovation
• Metaverse and data management
• Metaverse and equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)
• Metaverse and digital divide
• Metaverse and responsible business models
• Metaverse and non-human agents
Sample questions include:
• What are the design principles for creating more immersive and engaging user experiences in the metaverse?
• How do human-computer interaction and interface design enhance user experiences within the metaverse?
• What are the new roles of smart contracts and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) in the metaverse?
• How can security, privacy, and authenticity issues be addressed in the metaverse?
• What are the metaverse's novel business models for virtual goods and services?
• How does cryptocurrency and tokenomics operate within the context of the metaverse?
• What role do social networks and communities play in virtual spaces within the metaverse?
• How can legal frameworks and regulations improve metaverse governance?
• How can immersive learning experiences and simulations be improved in the metaverse?
These proposed research topics and questions are not intended to be exhaustive. Rather, they are intended to provide potential contributors with ideas regarding value creation perspectives in the metaverse.
Guest Editors
· Efpraxia D. Zamani Durham University Business School, UK
· Ariana Polyviou Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus
· Konstantina Spanaki Audencia Business School, France
· Xenia Vasilakopoulou University of Agder, Norway
Submission guidelines
Authors are invited to submit original research articles, case studies, and reviews contributing to understanding value creation in the metaverse. All submissions should adhere to the guidelines provided by the Journal of Enterprise Information Management and use the journal author guidelines for submissions of their manuscripts. Submissions must be made to the journal site https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/journal/jeim . If you do not have an account already, you must create one. Once logged in and the submission process has begun, you can submit the manuscript to the special issue (SI Value in the Metaverse).
Important Dates
Open date for submissions: April 21, 2024
Submission deadline: February 10, 2025
Notification of final editorial decision: January 25, 2026
Projected Publication: March 30, 2026
All inquiries should be directed to the guest editors.
We look forward to receiving your innovative contributions that advance our understanding of value creation in the metaverse and contribute to the growing body of knowledge in information systems.
References
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