Research, Innovation, and Industry Impacts of the Metaverse

Imagine a world where the digital and physical worlds intertwine seamlessly - this is the metaverse. This complex digital environment has the potential to revolutionize our lives in a multitude of ways. Yet the lack of standardized frameworks and guidelines creates a fragmented ecosystem with varying levels of security, privacy, and usability that can hinder the integration of the metaverse into our daily lives in cohesive, safe, and beneficial ways. Research, Innovation, and Industry Impacts of the Metaverse offers a comprehensive solution to the challenges posed by the metaverse. It serves as a roadmap for researchers, academics, and practitioners by providing a structured framework for exploring the metaverse. It covers foundational technologies, academic research, real-world applications, and challenges, offering insights into defining the metaverse, its technologies, and future potential. The book equips readers with the knowledge and tools needed to navigate the complexities of the metaverse and contribute to its responsible development. Showcasing the latest research contributions, this book initiates academic discourse and innovation. It fosters interdisciplinary collaboration, ensuring a holistic understanding of the metaverse's impact on society, education, commerce, and more, while empowering readers to harness the metaverse's full potential.

Jeetesh Kumar is Head of Research at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure Management, Senior Lecturer at the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events, Associate Director for Information Management & Documentation at the Centre for Research and Innovation in Tourism (CRiT), and Hub Leader of the “Responsible Tourism for Inclusive Economic Growth” Sustainable Tourism Impact Lab at Taylor’s University, Malaysia. His research areas include Economic Impacts, Economic Modelling, Sustainable Tourism Development, SMART Tourism and Behavioural Studies. He has worked on consultancies and research projects at the national/ international level and authored 80+ publications, including indexed research articles and book chapters.

Manpreet Arora , a Senior Assistant Professor of Management at the Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Dharamshala, India, brings over twenty-two years of rich teaching experience. She holds academic accolades including a Ph.D. in International Trade, an M.Phil, a gold medalist and several other academic distinctions from Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. Dr. Arora’s diverse research interests encompass Accounting, Finance, Strategic Management, Entrepreneurship, Qualitative Research and Microfinance. She works on Mixed methods research. Noteworthy for guiding doctoral research and delving into Microfinance, Entrepreneurship, Behavioral Finance and Corporate Reporting, she has presented at numerous seminars, delivering talks on various academic subjects across multiple universities and colleges. An accomplished academic, she has an impressive publication record, having authored over 30 papers in esteemed national and international journals listed in Scopus, WOS and Category journals, alongside contributing to fifty-five book chapters in publications by reputed publishers like Emerald, Routledge, CABI, Springer Nature, AAP, Wiley and more. Her commitment to management research is evident through the editing of six books. She is presently working in the area of Metaverse. Her impactful contributions showcase a multifaceted professional excelling in academia, research, and social advocacy.

Gül Erkol Bayram received her PhD in Tourism Management from "Sakarya University (Turkey). She is an Associate Professor in Tourism Management (Bachelor and Master Degree), School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Sinop University, Turkey. Her teaching and consultancy areas include tourism management, organizational behavior, women empowerment, entrepreneurship, cultural tourism, hotel/lodging management, and cross-cultural management. Her research areas include women empowerment, sustainability and green practices, strategy implementation, knowledge management, hotel/lodging management, crisis, management, destination marketing, information technology and developing countries, and network analysis. She chaired/co-chaired and served on numerous Master and PhD dissertation and master thesis committees. Erkol Bayram has also worked as a professional tour guide in the tourism sector. She has many book chapters and articles in the international arena and published her books as an editor in the national arena from Emerald, IGI Global, Apple Academic Press. She has been invited to more than 100+ many talks/lectures/ panel discussions by different Universities and countries as Indıa, Pakistan, Indonesia, Romania, Crotia, Philippines, UK, USA etc. She is member of several editorial board of international tourism journals. She is an Associate Editor of Journal of Tourismology (E-ISSN: 2459-1939). She is a member of Journal of Journal of EuroMED Business https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/1450-2194, and Family Business Management and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/journal/edi as Editorial Review Boar Journal of Family Business Management https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/2043-6238. She is a member of Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development as Editorial Advisory Board https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/1462-6004. She is also in the Editorial Review Board of the Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal in Springer Nature https://www.springer.com/journal/10672. She is a member of the Economy and Contemporary Society Journal as Advisory Board of, https://ecs-journal.ro/editorial-board/ (ISSN is: 2529-1947). She is also in the Advisory Board of International Journal of Business and Globalisation https://www.inderscience.com/jhome.php?jcode=ijbg. She is also the handling editor of EuroMed Journal of Management https://www.inderscience.com/jhome.php?jcode=emjm, International Journal of Business and Emerging Markets, https://www.inderscience.com/jhome.php?jcode=ijbem, International Journal of Work Innovation, https://www.inderscience.com/jhome.php?jcode=ijwi She has more than 20 years of tourism experience and worked with different positions as a professional tour guide, Hotel agent, guest relations manager, travel agency consultant in Turkey and Restaurant Guest Relations in Spain. She is also a member of the International Federation for Information Technologies in Travel and Tourism, https://ifitt.org/ and Şanliurfa Culture Education Art and Research Foundation, https://surkav.org.tr/. She has an ongoing project related ecotourism, cultural tourism, women entrepreneurship.