Sustainability Model for the Continuous Intention to Use Metaverse Technology in Higher Education: A Case Study from Oman

Abstract

This paper investigates adopting metaverse in academic institutions based on a conceptual model. The proposed conceptual model was created to empower future perspectives of the metaverse system. Even though the metaverses system was just recently launched, few attempts have been made to evaluate its impact on the educational sector. This paper attempted to determine the impact of metaverse system by providing a conceptual model that encompasses innovativeness, context awareness, perceived enjoyment, ubiquity, complexity, and value. The information was gathered using an online questionnaire completed by 953 people. The findings indicate that an innovative academic environment can influence teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward new technology. Understanding how the metaverse system functions as an innovative educational tool can influence students’ views regarding the use of new technology, assisting higher education institutions in developing regulations that enhance the learning process. As a result, the study discovered that the moderating impact of’ innovativeness is critical since it contributes to the pervasiveness of users’ perceptions of adopting new technology. The findings show that inventiveness is important in determining the metaverse system’s effectiveness. However, apparent ubiquity appears to have a less effective function in promoting the use of the metaverse system. The factors of context-awareness, perceived complexity and perceived enjoyment possess a substantial impact on the metaverse system’s adoption. Researchers have gained some insight into how university leaders can use current findings to spread awareness about the metaverse system in the educational environment by organizing seminars and workshops, offering incentives for teachers to use it, and allowing experts to assist teachers in better understanding the system’s benefits.