Employees’ Perceptions and Preferences for Metaverse in the Workplace: Evidence from an Indian IT Firm

AbstractThe adoption of Metaverse technology is evolving as a strategic initiative in Indian IT firms as it will enable engaged collaboration, innovative service delivery, and enhanced customer engagement, while positioning this industry at the cutting edge of digital transformation. The paper addresses an unanswered question: Can the Metaverse be introduced in Indian Industries in general, and the Indian IT industry in particular? In this context, this study explores the employees’ perception and preferences for Metaverse adoption in the workplace with reference to an Indian IT firm. We follow the quantitative research approach to determine employees’ willingness to use the Metaverse to do work. With a structured questionnaire, we gather the data from the employees working in a reputed Indian IT firm in a Hybrid mode. Our study comes up with interesting results. We find that the majority of respondents are ready to opt for Metaverse for various work environments, namely, talent selection and retention, team collaboration and enhanced communication, employee engagement, training and development, performance management, and wellbeing and stress management. Based on our findings, we strongly recommend that the IT companies’ policymakers consider introducing the Metaverse for work-related aspects.