Bright and dark sides of the metaverse. A look into the future from an organizational perspective

In recent years, researchers and practitioners have highlighted that digital transformation, accelerated by the spread of Covid-19, entails more than mere technology adoption but involves a bottom-up push for an effective and co-created grafting of new technologies. The role of collaboration and active participation in innovative digital environments has been recognized as crucial, leading to less hierarchical and more horizontal and human-centered relationships between various organizational levels. In such a scenario, the metaverse is conceived as a new reality where work and teamwork relationships are recreated, and roles and identities are re-shaped. However, although the potential of such technology is increasingly being discussed, the risks related to the dark sides of participation by organizations within these innovative digital environments should be investigated. This study investigates the major strengths and limitations of participation within the metaverse from an organizational perspective. This research followed a qualitative protocol consisting of unstructured interviews with national and international metaverse organizations. The results highlight how this new digital environment can be heralding of several opportunities, such as team building and experiential learning, within organizations, while it is necessary to deal with the potential misconduct that may occur.