Investigating the Social Sustainability of Immersive Virtual Technologies in Higher Educational Institutions: Students’ Perceptions toward Metaverse Technology

Abstract

The Metaverse technology (MVTECH) is an immersive virtual sphere where people interact with each other via avatars. The MVTECH promised to provide a number of potentials for various sectors including higher education. Despite the fact that MVTECH promotes virtual social interaction between people (e.g., university students), there is a lack of knowledge on what affects users’ perceptions regarding its social sustainability in HEIs, specifically in developing nations. Therefore, this research paper aims to determine the variables that affect the learners’ perceptions toward social sustainability (SS) of MVTECH in higher educational institutions (HEIs) in Jordan. A study model was formulated by integrating the core factors of the “unified theory of acceptance and use of technology” (UTAUT) (“performance expectancy, PE; effort expectancy, EE; social influence, SI; and facilitating conditions, FC”) with “perceived curiosity” (PC) and “extraversion” (EXT) factors. Both PC and EXT were included as context-related variables that may possibly contribute to enhancing the applicability of UTAUT to a wide range of information technologies and settings. Data were collected from 422 students enrolled in Jordanian universities based on an online survey. The analysis of the “structural equation modeling” (SEM) found that students’ perceptions toward Metaverse were significantly influenced by PE, FC, and EXT. Furthermore, the PC construct significantly affected the EE construct. However, EE and SI were revealed to have no significant impact on SS. Drawing from these results, the study makes a number of theoretical advances and clarifies a number of practical implications for those involved in the development, design, and decision-making processes that support the use of the Metaverse in HEIs.

Antecedents and outcomes of innovative blockchain usage in accounting and auditing profession: an extended UTAUT model

“…This sampling technique indicates that the survey respondents are “simply available to the researcher by virtue of their accessibility” (Bryman and Bell, 2015, p. 200). In addition, online cross-sectional survey designs have been employed across a broad spectrum of academic fields (Abu-AlSondos, 2023; Alkhwaldi, 2024b; Alshaher et al. , 2022; Shudifat et al.…”

“…This sampling technique indicates that the survey respondents are "simply available to the researcher by virtue of their accessibility" (Bryman and Bell, 2015, p. 200). In addition, online cross-sectional survey designs have been employed across a broad spectrum of academic fields (Abu-AlSondos, 2023;Alkhwaldi, 2024b;Alshaher et al, 2022;Shudifat et al, 2024). The survey link was disseminated among accountants and auditors working in enterprises registered with the Jordan Chamber of Industry (JCI) (JCI, 2017) or members of the Jordanian association of certified public accountants (JACPA) (JACPA, 2022).…”