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“Metaverse” has become a buzzword in the Chinese stock market. However, it remains unclear whether a firm's metaverse-related announcements will elicit positive stock market reactions. Whether and how stakeholder reactions are influenced by a firm's metaverse-related readiness also needs to be further explored. This study aims to discuss the aforementioned objective.

The authors derived a set of factors based on readiness theory and business ecosystem literature and extend them into the context of the metaverse. The authors used a sample of 642 Chinese listed firms in 2021 to investigate the hypotheses through the event study.

The study’s findings show that metaverse coverage induces a positive stock market reaction, but it is subject to three moderating effects. The authors introduce the novel concepts of IT readiness, ecosystem readiness and digital infrastructure readiness as the moderators. Stakeholders perceive metaverse announcements as overhyped, and stock prices do not fluctuate significantly after a metaverse announcement when the listed firms are not ready to embrace the metaverse.

This study is one of the first that introduces the event study method into the metaverse research, and it reveals that different levels of readiness influence stakeholders' evaluations and reactions to corporate metaverse coverage. This provides empirical evidence on metaverse development in China from the stock market's perspective.

Social presence (SP), which refers to individuals’ perception of others being engaged as “real people” in the same situation, is a crucial component in technology-rich learning environments (TREs). This study aims to identify major learning design, antecedents and outcomes of SP within TREs, and identify common findings from the past two decades.

Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses review principles and a qualitative analysis of selected articles, a final review of 72 studies that met inclusion criteria was obtained. Key information, including education level, discipline, sample size, study type and measurements, was extracted and studies were further analyzed and synthesized based on design features and learning modes.

The study identifies five crucial factors for instructional design to foster SP in TREs: technology affordances, multimedia features, social factors, instructional principles, learner characteristics and learning management systems. The authors compare two learning modes across three dimensions and identify popular technologies used in studies related to SP over the past two decades. Practical recommendations are provided for educators and educational technology developers to enhance SP within technology-rich learning environments.

This research contributes to the discourse on online learning and computer-supported communication, particularly in the post-COVID-19 era. By examining factors influencing SP and providing implications for instruction and educational technology development, this study offers evidence-based support to educators for engaging learners and fostering authentic learning experiences through adaptive selection of educational technologies.

Despite the technological paradigm shift presented to the architecture, engineering, construction and operations sector (AECO), the full-fledged acceptance of the building information modelling (BIM) methodology has been slower than initially anticipated. Indeed, this study aims to acknowledge the need for increasing supportive technologies enabling the use of BIM, attending to available human resources, their requirements and their tasks.

A complete case study is described, including the development process centred on design science research methodology followed by the usability assessment procedure validated by construction projects facility management operational staff.

Results show that participants could interact with BIM using openBIM processes and file formats naturally, as most participants reached an efficiency level close to that expected for users already familiar with the interface (i.e. high-efficiency values). These results are consistent with the reported perceived satisfaction and analysis of participants’ discourses through 62 semi-structured interviews.

The contributions of the present study are twofold: a proposal for a virtual reality openBIM framework is presented, particularly for the semantic enrichment of BIM models, and a methodology for evaluating the usability of this type of system in the AECO sector.

The purpose of this study is to determine what technological strategies were used within each of the phases of the ADDIE framework when developing content for professional training. The study also examined the affordances of those technologies in training.

A PRISMA systematic review methodology (Moher et al., 2015) was utilized to answer the four questions guiding this study. Specifically, the PRISMA extension Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis for Protocols (PRISMA-P, Moher et al., 2015) was used to direct each stage of the research, from the literature review to the conclusion. In addition, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA principles; Liberati et al., 2009) are used to guide the article selection process.

The findings reveal that the majority of the studies were in healthcare (36%) and education (24%) and used an online format (65%). There was a wide distribution of ADDIE used with technology across the globe. The coding for the benefits of technology use in the development of the training solution revealed four trends: 1) usability, 2) learning approaches, 3) learner experience and 4) financial.

This systematic review only examined articles published in English, which may bias the findings to a Western understanding of how technology is used within the ADDIE framework. Furthermore, the study examined only peer-review academic articles from scholarly journals and conferences. While this provided a high level of assurance about the quality of the studies, it does not include other reports directly from training providers and other organizations.

These findings can be used as a springboard for training providers, scholars, funders and practitioners, providing rigorous insight into how technology has been used within the ADDIE framework, the types of technology, and the benefits of using technology. This insight can be used when designing future training solutions with a better understanding of how technology can support learning.

This study provides insight into the uses of technology in training. Many of these findings and uses of technology within ADDIE can also transfer to other aspects of society.

This study is unique in that it provides the scholarly community with the first systematic review to examine what technological strategies were used within each of the phases of the ADDIE structure and how these technologies provided benefits to developing a training solution.

Facility management gained profound importance due to the increasing complexity of different systems and the cost of operation and maintenance. However, due to the increasing complexity of different systems, facility managers may suffer from a lack of information. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new facility management approach that links segmented assets to the vital data required for managing facilities.

Automatic point cloud segmentation is one of the most crucial processes required for modelling building facilities. In this research, laser scanning is used for point cloud acquisition. The research utilises region growing algorithm, colour-based region-growing algorithm and Euclidean cluster algorithm.

A case study is worked out to test the accuracy of the considered point cloud segmentation algorithms utilising metrics precision, recall and F-score. The results indicate that Euclidean cluster extraction and region growing algorithm revealed high accuracy for segmentation.

The research presents a comparative approach for selecting the most appropriate segmentation approach required for accurate modelling. As such, the segmented assets can be linked easily with the data required for facility management.

The current difficulties of distribution network working robots are mainly in the performance and operation mode. On the one hand, high-altitude power operation tasks require high load-carrying capacity and dexterity of the robot; on the other hand, the fully autonomous mode is uncontrollable and the teleoperation mode has a high failure rate. Therefore, this study aims to design a distribution network operation robot named Sky-Worker to solve the above two problems.

The heterogeneous arms of Sky-Worker are driven by hydraulics and electric motors to solve the contradiction between high load-carrying capacity and high flexibility. A human–robot collaborative shared control architecture is built to realize real-time human intervention during autonomous operation, and control weights are dynamically assigned based on energy optimization.

Simulations and tests show that Sky-Worker has good dexterity while having a high load capacity. Based on Sky-Worker, multiuser tests and practical application experiments show that the designed shared-control mode effectively improves the success rate and efficiency of operations compared with other current operation modes.

The designed heterogeneous dual-arm distribution robot aims to better serve distribution line operation tasks.

For the first time, the integration of hydraulic and motor drives into a distribution network operation robot has achieved better overall performance. A human–robot cooperative shared control framework is proposed for remote live-line working robots, which provides better operation results than other current operation modes.

Growing recognition of the metaverse has implied its far-reaching impacts on the tourism and hospitality industry. This paper sets out to detail the status of metaverse-related research in tourism and hospitality, propose intriguing directions for future studies and highlight multiple areas that call for immediate attention from practitioners in navigating the metaverse phenomenon.

This viewpoint paper referenced the extant academic discussion on the metaverse, based on which timely suggestions for academia and practices are proposed.

This viewpoint paper presents an account of the metaverse and discusses the status of metaverse-related research in hospitality and tourism. It then proposes intriguing avenues for future research around the topics of marketing, reconceptualizing service quality, attitude and behaviors, electronic customer-to-customer interactions, transformative impacts on the society well-being and research methodology. Multiple areas that call for immediate attention from practitioners in navigating the metaverse phenomenon are also highlighted. Both scholars and industry organizations are called upon to assume some responsibility for mapping out protocols to guide the appropriate development, use and governance of metaverse worlds. Governments and policymakers are further encouraged to consider the ramifications of metaverse development for individuals and society and to devise proactive mitigation strategies.

This viewpoint paper proposes several directions for future business practices in the areas of co-creation, experiential consumption, and emerging critical issues in healthcare, human resources, and social media services. It expects to inspire more discussion about the potential impacts of metaverse on the wider society. Its practical significance will further expand the theoretical foundation of the metaverse research and makes this viewpoint paper an intriguing prospect.

The nascent stage of academic discussion intended to guide the development of metaverse is noteworthy, which forms a notable contrast with the growing recognition of its potential of co-creating transformational experiences in hospitality and tourism. This viewpoint paper joins the current academic conversations acknowledging this phenomenon in hospitality and tourism. Provided the notable topicality and empirical relevance, the expanded scope and rich content the present viewpoint paper provides for metaverse will offer a fruitful ground for future research to tap further into currently underrepresented areas.

This paper aims to understand the main challenges connected with accountability issues across multiple layers of the metaverse, to identify whether and how any techwashing is taking place and to discuss implications for accounting research.

To develop the research, the authors refer to a critical dialogic accountability framework, operationalized in the current paper by leveraging the perspectives of accountability as virtues and as mechanisms (Bovens, 2010). The authors discuss who is accountable to whom, for what and in what manner in a relatively unregulated and unaccountable world, through the layers of virtual reality introduced by MacKenzie et al. (2013) and Llewellyn (2007). Methodologically, the study concentrates on 32 start-ups working in the metaverse selected from the Crunchbase database and relies on interviews, direct observation in the field and white paper reports analyzed by means of NVivo coding.

The findings show how metaverse creators deal with accountability as a virtue and accountability as a mechanism. Companies who operate metaverses primarily consider accountability in the virtual-physical domain, which focuses on developing the necessary internal and external architecture to enable a particular metaverse to function. Metaverse companies also emphasize the virtual-agential dimension that concentrates on onboarding, engaging with and incentivizing individuals in virtual worlds. There is an emphasis on outlining the virtues or standards that metaverse companies aspire to, but there is very little detail provided. Similarly, there are uneven and limited discussions of the mechanisms that can support accountability in most layers of a virtual world.

The analysis raises significant questions about the purpose, scope and use of metaverses, which are still a relatively unregulated and unaccountable world. The paper advances the idea that the current creators of metaverses are “techwashing” their projects, providing a utopian ideal of what their universes will look like but obfuscating the realities of their ventures in tech jargon that few people are likely to understand. Therefore, meaning and truth at all levels of the real and virtual worlds remain unaddressed, with implications to be explored in terms of legitimacy and trust of metaverses and the interests that shape them.

This paper is one of the first to address the issue of accountability in metaverses. It advances an analytical framework to guide future accounting and accountability research into virtual worlds.

This study aims to answer two significant questions: What are the relative consumer and firm-level effects of marketing through metaverse compared to conventional marketing endeavours? What are the current trends in utilizing the metaverse as reported in the recent literature?

This study uses a systematic literature review methodology, using a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses flowchart to synthesize existing research. A total of 35 articles written in English were selected and analysed from two databases, Web of Science and EBSCO Host.

The findings indicate that consumer-level effects of the metaverse include consumer loyalty and brand attachment. The firm-level benefits are decentralization and cost reductions. The paper proposes a framework indicating variables that could attenuate or enhance the association between immersive components of the metaverse and their resultant effects.

This study contributes to understanding the role of metaverse in marketing practices related to the marketing mix components. The study conceptualizes a novel framework for the metaverse and its resultant effects.

The purpose of this paper is to present the investigation on contemporary applications of game design in architectural visualization, urban environmental planning and the results to address the problems of traditional methods specifically in terms of interactivity and visualization. The authors present the prototype that incorporates information modeling and virtual reality (VR) into interactive architectural visualization.

The proposed system supports a virtual walkthrough process that allows users to navigate in an architectural space of their imagination and design. The immersion in the design of living space or environment has been made possible through the inclusion of VR through the use of WebVR technology to deploy the design to be experienced.

This study investigates and establishes a framework that explores the intricacies of 3 imensional (3D) Architectural Visualization in a real-time engine by designing a visual experience with a better level of user interaction and then deploying it through VR.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the few experimental frameworks which perfectly integrates VR for visualization in digital home design environments. The prospective applications of this framework are in several fields of construction innovation, architectural design, 3D modeling, virtual and augmented reality.