Submit a Manuscript to the Journal
Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship

For a Special Issue on
Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Metaverse

The Special Issue calls for manuscripts which focus on the role and future of entrepreneurship and innovation in the metaverse. It welcomes a wide variety of interdisciplinary topics to promote research and further advance our understanding on entrepreneurship and the metaverse. The aim of this SI is to raise awareness, clarify misconceptions about the metaverse, and contribute practical solutions to the business leaders and community.

Internet searches for the term ‘Metaverse’ increased by 7,200 %  in 2021 (McKinsey and Company, 2021). The Metaverse is an interconnected web of social, networked immersive environments in persistent multiuser platforms (Mystakidis, 2022). Many businesses are steadily, but surely, entering the Metaverse. These include Nike, Gucci, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Binance, etc. There are billions of investments in the metaverse (Reuters, 2021). Facebook (now known as Meta) is launching Workroom Horizons, a metaverse platform for remote working through virtual reality features.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the explosion of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, big data analytics, blockchain, XR, and 5G, have ushered the emergence of the metaverse, and have made it more mainstream (Lee et al., 2021). Several versions of the metaverse platforms exist right now serving different industries such as  MetaDubai (real estate), metaverse police station in Dubai (community service), Roblox (gaming),  Omniverse (simulation), digital museum (travelling) and the Horizon workroom and Mesh (virtual working).  Therefore, the evolution towards an immersive extended reality is inevitable (JP Morgan’s White Paper, 2022). All of these changes have implications for entrepreneurship, business models, and innovation. However, although the metaverse is gaining traction in the business world, research and academics are yet to jump on the proverbial trend.

A very significant perspective lacking in the literature is the role of entrepreneurs in the metaverse, resources, and skills needed to enter this cyberspace. Moreover, it is important to examine the impact that the metaverse platforms have on small businesses and industries. Consequently, research on the challenges, risks, and opportunities available to entrepreneurs and businesses in the metaverse is needed for the benefit of business owners, start-ups, managers, and marketers.

This special section aims at addressing the role and future of entrepreneurship and innovation in the digital world, in particular the metaverse, by encouraging research related to the following areas. Topics can be examined from various perspectives including business owners, customers, employees, and regulators.

Topics include (but are not limited to):

• Entrepreneurship and small business opportunities in the metaverse
• Women entrepreneurship and innovation in the metaverse
• Cultural diversity and social acceptability concerns in the metaverse
• Opportunities and challenges of Combinatorial digital innovation
• Applications of metaverse platforms for the business, finance, and marketing industries
• Changing work patterns and the impact of metaverse platforms on working conditions (in terms of avatars, fairness, discrimination, cyberbullying)
• Entrepreneurial skills and characteristics needed for surviving and thriving in the metaverse
• Governmental support and incubation for small and micro enterprises
• Sustainable development goals and the implications of the metaverse
• IT and Financial technology applications needed in the metaverse
• Marketing and branding strategies for the metaverse
• The future of entrepreneurship and business education
• The awareness and attitudes of entrepreneurs towards the metaverse
• Ethical, trust, and privacy concerns in the metaverse

This SI embraces manuscripts with either quantitative or qualitative research methods and theoretical or empirical contributions. The approaches suggested are not exhaustive and can be extended by the authors. The SI calls for high-quality manuscripts with clear contribution, significance, rigor, and originality.

All manuscripts should be submitted through the ScholarOne System, from December 1, 2022, through July 1, 2023. Authors should select the title of the Special Issue as “Manuscript Type.” All manuscripts will undergo the customary blind peer review by at least two independent reviewers.

Timeframe:

Deadline for submission: July 1, 2023
Notification of decision: September 1, 2023
Deadline for revised papers: December 1, 2023
Notification of final acceptance: December  31, 2023
Tentative publication date: March 2024

The guest editor welcomes inquiries from those who are interested in submitting. Any queries or inquiries about the special issue should be directed to:

Dr. Abdalmuttaleb Al-Sartawi, Associate Professor, Chairperson of the Accounting, Finance and Banking Department, Ahlia University, Kingdom of Bahrain, [email protected]

Instructions for AuthorsSubmit an Article