Metaverse-based education for sustainable development and improving the performance: Discussing the future research agenda

In the last few years, the uptake of cutting-edge technologies in the education system has been expedited, mainly as a reaction to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Innovations have emphasized the imperative for new and sustainable education practices. Out of the new technologies, the metaverse has potential for high transformative power towards improving teaching and learning experiences, particularly in the context of sustainable development in higher education. Though having immense potential, there has been sparse academic discussion on the use of metaverse-based environments for the promotion of sustainability education. This study seeks to address the gap by presenting a theoretical framework for the uptake of metaverse-based education towards the promotion of sustainable development, and its impact on students’ and lecturers’ performance. A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted, covering 105 selected articles on the basis of given keyword combinations. Through bibliometric analysis, the study identifies five major thematic clusters that represent research trends, keyword co-occurrences, citation patterns, and top publications. On that basis, the study formulates a comprehensive agenda for future research that combines metaverse technologies with sustainable education and performance measures. Though findings offer high conceptual inputs, the theoretical direction of the research suggests limitations, and it is recommended that future research should focus on empirical validation of the proposed framework in different education contexts.