A Student-centric Perspective on Leveraging of the Metaverse in Higher Education

Using the metaverse in education is one of the numerous new application areas that have recently evolved. The overall aim of this research study was to investigate the factors that influence university students' acceptance of using the metaverse in education. A modified version of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology developed specifically for the metaverse was employed. In addition, common moderating constructs were added to the modified version of the employed model (namely, level of experience and gender) to further broaden the scope of the analysis. A survey questionnaire was administered to collect data from a sample of 326 students from the King Talal School of Business at Princess Sumaya University for Technology. Subsequently, data were analysed using structural equation modelling via the SmartPLS software. Results of this study revealed that the construct's performance expectancy, social influence, effort expectancy and facilitating conditions all had significant positive effects on students' satisfaction with using the metaverse in education. Furthermore, students' satisfaction demonstrated a significant positive effect on students' intention to continue using the metaverse in education. Contrary to expectations, the constructs, including level of experience and gender, did not have any significant effect on the results. The research study findings provided several theoretical and practical implications which would assist educational institutions and metaverse providers in their efforts to incorporate such an immersive platform into the educational domain.