Service Business - Call for Papers for the Special Issue "Metaverse: Concept, Potential, Application, and Success in the Service Industry"

The term “metaverse,” which was coined by Neal Stephenson (1992) in his sci-fi novel “Snow Crash,” is currently described as a parallel 3D virtual world that has the immersive feel of the physical world (Ball 2022). Metaverse replicates the physical world in a digital context and enables similar interactions to what one would experience in the real-world. Metaverse is persistent (continues to exist even if you close the app or logout), collaborative, and must be interoperable (among different metaverses with each other). Metaverse is also described as “the next generation internet”, a blockchain-based internet that will be decentralized beyond the control of any single entity (regulators, banks, and tech platforms). It incorporates emerging technologies (augmented and virtual reality devices, connectivity, and processing), digital economy (business models, digital assets and identities, cryptocurrencies, etc.), and Web 3.0 (open, free, ethical, equitable, and a user-owned-and-operated internet).

Metaverse is expected to bring seismic changes that will disrupt people, places, and economies. It will change people’s lifestyle (flexible living - shopping, entertainment, learning, and socializing) and work styles. It will be inclusive, providing anyone with access to the Internet with the opportunity to utilize its benefits (e.g., a billion people worldwide who are currently unbanked will finally be able to access the global economy via the metaverse).

The economic impact of the metaverse is enormous. Many firms, including Citi, Goldman Sachs, KPMG, McKinsey & Company, and Morgan Stanley, variously estimate that metaverse will contribute between $2.5 trillion and $16 trillion to the global economy by 2030 (Ball 2022). The Wall Street Journal even believes that the GDP of the metaverse will eventually exceed that of the physical world. Gartner (2022) estimates that, by 2026, 25% of the world population will spend at least one hour a day in the metaverse for a variety of activities including work, shopping, education, social media, entertainment, and many others. Most big technology firms, such as Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet (formerly Google), and Meta (formerly Facebook), are all betting on their companies’ future in the metaverse (New York Times 2022). Thus far, most uses have been on gaming, which has helped build expertise on both sides, developers as well as users. Recently live 3-D simulations have acquired the sophistication and accuracy to move beyond consumer leisure and into infrastructure, healthcare, education, and warfare. Governments are also taking metaverse seriously as countries need to embrace the digital economy in order to compete in the global digital and economic spheres.

Although in its infancy, metaverse research is flourishing in recent years (Ahmed et al. 2022; Davis et al. 2009; Dwivedi et al. 2022; Heinonen & Medberg 2018; Kraus et al. 2022; Lee et al. 2021; Park & Kim 2022; Spanò et al. 2022; Upadhyay & Khandelwal 2022; Yang et al., 2022; Yu & Meister, 2022). Davis et al. (2009) proposed a conceptual model for research in metaverses from a socio-technical aspect which includes 5 main constructs: the concept of metaverse, people, metaverse technology capabilities, behaviors, and outcomes. Additionally, they call for research in metaverse design, participation, adoption, implementation, and use. More recently, many researchers focus on metaverse applications in a myriad of service business domains (e.g., accounting (Spanò et al. 2022); human resources (Upadhyay & Khandelwal 2022); healthcare (Yang et al. 2022); marking (Heinonen & Medberg 2018); service information systems (Park & Kim 2022; Lee et al. 2022); and service experience research (Kozinets 2022)). However, most of the current studies pertaining to metaverse research are either conceptual or anecdotal in nature (Ahmed et al. 2022; Kraus et al. 2022). To fill this void, more theoretical and empirical studies are needed to test, verify, and extend the conceptual models proposed in the previous metaverse research, and to generalize the findings from the prior anecdotal-oriented studies.

The objective of this special issue is to present original and high-quality papers on metaverse research in the service industry. Many different methodologies are welcome including conceptual and theoretical research; empirical survey, secondary data, experiment study; case study; and bibliometric analysis. 

Suggested Topics

Recommended topics for this special issue include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Metaverse technology design and innovation in service business
• Diffusion/adoption of metaverse in service business
• Alignment between metaverse technology and business models in service business
• Impact of collaboration and information sharing on metaverse in service business
• Metaverses: critical success factors in service business 
• Netnography within the context of metaverse in service business 
• Opportunities and barriers of metaverses in service business
• Regulatory, privacy and security issues of metaverses in service business
• Trust and accountability issues of metaverses in service business
• Metaverse consumer experiences and behaviors in service business 
• Service innovation through metaverse
  • Metaverse in education and training services
  • Metaverse in sports and entertainment services
  • Metaverse in healthcare services
  • Metaverse in tourism and hospitality services
• Metaverse in government services and governance
• Metaverse for collaboration and work life
• Bibliometric analysis and/or systematic review of current metaverse research in service business

Guest Editors

Ray Qing Cao (Lead Guest Editor), University of Houston – Downtown, USA

Silvana Trimi (Guest Editor), University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA

Hui Han (Guest Editor), Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU), Norway

Important Dates

June 30, 2023: Submission deadline

August 31, 2023: Reviewers’ initial reports in

October 15, 2023: Revised manuscript submission deadline

November 30, 2023: Final revision submission deadline

Publication of the special issue: Spring, 2024

Instructions

Submitted manuscripts must be original and must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. All submissions should be made online to Service Business. Manuscripts will be reviewed by independent referees, as per the journal’s standard evaluation process. The editors will base their final decisions on the relevance to the special issue, technical quality, innovative content, and originality of research approaches and results. All submitted manuscripts must be fully compliant with the Service Business author guidelines and style requirements.

Submissions should be uploaded via Editorial Manager (see http://www.editorialmanager.com/sbus). To ensure your paper is considered for this special issue, reply “yes” when asked during submission whether it is intended for a special issue and select the relevant title from the drop-down menu. You may also wish to mention the special issue in your cover letter.

References:

Ball M (2022) What the metaverse will mean. The Wall Street Journal Aug. 11

Davis A, Murphy J, Owens D, Khazanchi D, Zigurs I (2009) Avatars, people, and virtual worlds: foundations for research in metaverses. Journal of the Association for Information Systems 10(2): 90-117

Dwivedi YK, Dwivedi LH, Baabdullah AM, Ribeiro-Navarrete S, Giannakis M, Al-Debei MM, Dennehy D, Metri B, Buhalis D, Cheung CMK, Conboy K, Doyle R, Dubey R, Dutot V, Felix R, Goyal DP, Gustafsson A, Hinsch A, Jebabli I, Janssen M, Kim YG, Kim J, Koos S, Kreps D, Kshetri N, Kumar V, Ooi KB, Papagiannidis S, Pappas IO, Polyviou A, Park SM, Pandey N, Queiroz MM, Raman R, Rauschnabel PA, Shirish A, Sigala M, Spanaki K, Tan GYH, Tiwari MK, Viglia G, Wamba SF (2022) Metaverse beyond the hype: multidisciplinary perspectives on emerging challenges, opportunities, and agenda for research, practice, and policy. International Journal of Information Management (in press)

Gartner (2022): https://www.gartner.com/en/articles/what-is-a-metaverse (this opens in a new tab)

Heinonen K, Medberg G (2018) Netnography as a tool for understanding customers: implications for service research and practice. Journal of Services Marketing 32(6): 657-679

Kozinets RV (2022) Immersive netnography: a novel method for service experience research in virtual reality, augmented reality and metaverse contexts. Journal of Service Management (in press)

Kraus S, Kanbach DK, Krysta PM, Steinhoff MM, Tomini N (2022) Facebook and the creation of the metaverse: radical business model innovation or incremental transformation. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research 28(9): 52-77

Lee LH, Braud T, Zhou P, Wang L, Xu D, Lin Z, Kumar A, Bermejo C, Hui P (2022) All one needs to know about metaverse: a complete survey on technological singularity, virtual ecosystem, and research agenda. Journal of Latex Class Files 14(8): 1-66

Meta (2022) https://about.meta.com/metaverse/ (this opens in a new tab)

New York Times (2022): https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/technology/facebook-meta-change.html (this opens in a new tab)

Park S, Kim Y (2022) A metaverse: taxonomy, components, applications, and open challenges. IEEE Access 10: 4209-5251

Spanò R, Massaro M, Ferri L, Dumay J, Schmitz J (2022) Blockchain in accounting, accountability and assurance: an overview. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal 35(7): 1493-1506

Stephenson N (1992) Snow crash. Bantam Books. p. 22. ISBN 9780553351927

Upadhyay A K, Khandelwal K (2022) Metaverse: the future of immersive training. Strategic HR Review 21(3): 83-86

Yang Y, Siau K, Xie W, Sun Y (2022) Smart health intelligent healthcare systems in the metaverse, artificial intelligence, and data science era. Journal of Organizational and End User Computing 34(1): 1-14

Yu H, Meister A (2022) How future thinking can derail your company's present. MIT Sloan Management Review 63(4): 1-4