IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jftint/v14y2022i11p310-d956926.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What Is Metaverse?—A Definition Based on Qualitative Meta-Synthesis

Author

Listed:
  • Markus Weinberger

    (Faculty Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Aalen University of Applied Science, 73430 Aalen, Germany)

Abstract

The term Metaverse has received much attention in various industries, in society, and, increasingly, in scientific communities. This creates demand for a comprehensive and broadly accepted definition of the subject, which is well grounded in research. At the same time, the Metaverse is rather a vision under evolution than an examinable phenomenon. Therefore, this study applied an adapted version of the meta-synthesis method to analyze the existing literature and distill a proposal for a Metaverse definition. The adapted method takes the nature of the subject into account by weighing younger publications with many citations over older, less influential documents. Initially, 47 publications were fed into the process, of which 24 were left after the primary analysis. As a result of the analysis, the following definition is proposed: “The Metaverse is an interconnected web of ubiquitous virtual worlds partly overlapping with and enhancing the physical world. These virtual worlds enable users represented by avatars to connect and interact with each other, to experience and consume user-generated content in an immersive, scalable, synchronous and persistent environment. An economic system provides incentives for contributing to the Metaverse.” The meta-synthesis method ensures a systematic and reproducible approach while at the same time preserving the original voice and notion of the analyzed literature in order to create new knowledge based on the existing literature; thus the proposed Metaverse definition might serve as a helpful foundation for future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Markus Weinberger, 2022. "What Is Metaverse?—A Definition Based on Qualitative Meta-Synthesis," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-16, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jftint:v:14:y:2022:i:11:p:310-:d:956926
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/14/11/310/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/14/11/310/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pamucar, Dragan & Deveci, Muhammet & Gokasar, Ilgin & Tavana, Madjid & Köppen, Mario, 2022. "A metaverse assessment model for sustainable transportation using ordinal priority approach and Aczel-Alsina norms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    2. Hodgson, Geoffrey M., 2019. "Taxonomic definitions in social science, with firms, markets and institutions as case studies," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(2), pages 207-233, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Salvatore Monaco & Giovanna Sacchi, 2023. "Travelling the Metaverse: Potential Benefits and Main Challenges for Tourism Sectors and Research Applications," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-10, February.
    2. Ergün Hasgül & Mustafa Karataş & Merve Deniz Pak Güre & Veli Duyan, 2023. "A perspective from Turkey on construction of the new digital world: analysis of emotions and future expectations regarding Metaverse on Twitter," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-8, December.
    3. Keattikorn Samarnggoon & Supara Grudpan & Noppon Wongta & Konlawat Klaynak, 2023. "Developing a Virtual World for an Open-House Event: A Metaverse Approach," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-23, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Asta Valackienė & Rafał Nagaj, 2021. "Shared Taxonomy for the Implementation of Responsible Innovation Approach in Industrial Ecosystems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-21, September.
    2. Larue, Louis & Meyer, Camille & Hudon, Marek & Sandberg, Joakim, 2022. "The Ethics of Alternative Currencies," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 32(2), pages 299-321, April.
    3. Jaung, Wanggi, 2022. "Digital forest recreation in the metaverse: Opportunities and challenges," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    4. Dan Friesner, 2024. "Is the Prisoner’s Dilemma an Adequate Concept for Ethical Analysis in Healthcare? An Original Institutional Economic Rejoinder," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 193(2), pages 383-391, August.
    5. Geoffrey M Hodgson, 2023. "How stable routines can empower varied behaviors: defining routines as organizational capacities," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 32(6), pages 1319-1332.
    6. Kuo, Hsin-Tsz & Choi, Tsan-Ming, 2024. "Metaverse in transportation and logistics operations: An AI-supported digital technological framework," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    7. Timothy Waring & Taylor Lange & Sujan Chakraborty, 2022. "Institutional adaptation in the evolution of the ‘co-operative principles’," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 333-365, January.
    8. Aytekin, Ahmet & Korucuk, Selçuk & Görçün, Ömer Faruk, 2024. "Determining the factors affecting transportation demand management and selecting the best strategy: A case study," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 150-166.
    9. René Riedl & Mark Stieninger & Manuel Muehlburger & Stefan Koch & Thomas Hess, 2024. "What is digital transformation? A survey on the perceptions of decision-makers in business," Information Systems and e-Business Management, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 61-95, March.
    10. Mehrotra, Ankit & Agarwal, Reeti & Khalil, Ashraf & Alzeiby, Ebtesam Abdullah & Agarwal, Vaishali, 2024. "Nitty-gritties of customer experience in metaverse retailing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    11. Lnenicka, Martin & Rizun, Nina & Alexopoulos, Charalampos & Janssen, Marijn, 2024. "Government in the metaverse: Requirements and suitability for providing digital public services," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    12. Frasser, Cristian & Guzmán, Gabriel, 2024. "The Plurality of Economic Classifications: Toward a New Strategy for Their Investigation," MPRA Paper 121166, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Mateusz Borkowski, 2024. "Trust and economic development on the example of European economies in 2017–2020: PLS-SEM modeling," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 58(5), pages 4257-4280, October.
    14. Pannee Suanpang & Chawalin Niamsorn & Pattanaphong Pothipassa & Thinnagorn Chunhapataragul & Titiya Netwong & Kittisak Jermsittiparsert, 2022. "Extensible Metaverse Implication for a Smart Tourism City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-19, October.
    15. Ghosh, Indranil & Alfaro-Cortés, Esteban & Gámez, Matías & García, Noelia, 2023. "Do travel uncertainty and invasion rhetoric spur Metaverse financial asset? – Gauging the role of media influence," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    16. Tasneem Sadiq & Rob van Tulder & Karen Maas, 2022. "Building a Taxonomy of Hybridization: An Institutional Logics Perspective on Societal Impact," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-22, August.
    17. Bennett, Roger & Vijaygopal, Rohini, 2024. "Exploring mobility and transportation technology futures for people with ambulatory disabilities: A science fiction prototype," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jftint:v:14:y:2022:i:11:p:310-:d:956926. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.