Investigating the role of psychological needs in predicting the educational sustainability of Metaverse using a deep learning-based hybrid SEM-ANN technique

ABSTRACT

Metaverse is an immersive three-dimensional (3D) virtual world inhabited by avatars beyond the physical realm. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the education system and the need to accelerate the digitalization of education has received a lot of attention. Metaverse can be an alternative solution for sociocultural interaction and to continue education. Accordingly, this study aimed to identify key factors in predicting the educational sustainability of Metaverse. The study empirically tested the role of psychological needs (i.e. hedonic motivation, affiliation, dominance, achievement, and autonomy) in predicting educational sustainability. The study employed a hybrid method integrating covariance-based structural-equation-modeling (CB-SEM) and deep artificial neural network (ANN) model. The CB-SEM results indicated that the need for autonomy and hedonic motivation significantly predicted the educational sustainability of Metaverse. Further, deep ANN models indicated that hedonic motivation was the most important input factor, followed by autonomy, affiliation, dominance, and achievement. Findings have practical implications for developers of the Metaverse environments and theoretical contributions for educators who manage and implement such environments.

KEYWORDS:

• Educational sustainability
• Metaverse
• psychological needs
• autonomy
• hedonic motivation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ibrahim Arpaci

Arpaci Ibrahim ARPACI is currently an associate professor in the Department of Software Engineering at Bandirma Onyedi Eylul University. He received his Ph.D. degree and M.Sc. degree in Information Systems both from Middle East Technical University. He holds a B.Sc. degree (with distinction) in Computer Education and Instructional Technology from Anadolu University. He was a visiting scholar at Ryerson University, Ted Rogers School of Information Technology Management, Toronto, ON, Canada. He was among the top 2% scientists in the world, according to the report published by Stanford University in October 2020, 2021, and 2022. His research interests are in information systems, educational technology, and cyberpsychology.

Mahadi Bahari

Mahadi Bahari is an associate professor in Information Systems (IS). He has a background in IS and obtained his Ph.D. from Brunel University London. He is now head of program doctor of philosophy (IS). His research over the past decade has been in the area of adoption and implementation of emerging and cutting-edge technology such as e-government and e-commerce. More recently, his research is focused on the readiness of IS healthcare, including telerehabilitation and telemedicine.