Resumo:
Contemporary society has significantly expanded the use of virtual platforms and, more recently, has been immersed in the Metaverse environment, which in this study is understood as a technology that connects several three-dimensional virtual platforms. Such platforms were defined in this study as Experience Networks, constituting a new concept to characterize the emergence of a three-dimensional world that allows immersive interactions and collaborative activities between users represented by avatars. These networks are developed by private companies and public and third sector organizations to offer users a variety of digital services and applications, such as entertainment, commerce, education, health, work and communication, allowing users to interact in events and activities in an immersive three-dimensional virtual environment with a high level of realism. Thus, the objective of the research is to propose a new object of academic study, the Metaverse Experience Networks, which constitute a technological, social and market phenomenon that chronologically succeeds the Social Network, as well as to establish their influences on corporate sustainability practices. Due to the recent nature of this phenomenon, and to assist in the characterization of Experience Networks, a new analytical framework is proposed as a State of the Art proposal for the knowledge area, the Dodecahedral Framework of Metaverse Experience Networks, which presents 12 categories of analysis, grouped into 4 dimensions. A more detailed focus was given to the identification of the influences of Experience Networks on the sustainability-oriented culture and how they provide elements for the development of sustainable corporate activities. To provide conceptual support for the Dodecahedral Model, theoretical references were compiled in academic journals and specialized magazines, most of them international and mostly from the period 2020 to 2024. The methodological approach was based on a bibliographic review accompanied by the application of a quantitative online questionnaire to users of the Metaverse Experience Networks, with validation through confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation model. Empirical evidence has shown that there are positive correlations between the variables Digital Identities, Gamification and Network Interoperability with the variable Sustainability-Oriented Culture. Finally, it is expected that the use of the Dodecahedral Framework can help characterize the Metaverse Experience Networks, pointing out their functionalities, potentialities and impacts on organizational sustainability, serving as an analysis tool for future research that may be dedicated to this new object of study.
