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1. Introduction
Before 2021, the word “metaverse” seemed to exist only in cyberpunk science fiction. Stephenson (1992) used this word in his book Snow Crash to depict a virtual three-dimensional universe inhabited by millions of people whose avatars could interact with each other. However, it was not until 2021 that the concept of the metaverse took the public, especially the stock market, by storm. In March 2021, the gaming platform Roblox was the first to include the concept of the “metaverse” in its initial public offering prospectus. Its stock ended up being valued at an eye-watering $69.50 apiece, giving this gaming platform a market capitalization of $38.26 billion on the first day of going public. Roblox's success on the New York Stock Exchange brought the metaverse into public view and set off a wave of investment interest in the concept in the global stock market. The stock price of the chipmaking firm Nvidia leaped after unveiling the metaverse software platform, and shares of social media giant Facebook edged up after Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg announced his decision to rebrand the firm with the new name “Meta.” The new stock ticker “MVRS” demonstrated investor optimism about these new initiatives.
However, what is interesting is that the performance of metaverse stocks was more impressive in the Chinese stock market than the US stock market, where this concept originated. Investors have sought metaverse firms in China since the third quarter of 2021. By the end of January 4, 2022, the closing price of the Metaverse Concept Index in China reached CNY1,353, up by 33.40% from CNY 1,014 on September 2, 2021 (Pan, 2022). During this period, interest in the metaverse concept grew exponentially, and it was included in the roadmaps of many listed firms in the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and Shanghai Stock Exchange. However, some stock analysts and investors worry that the metaverse is overhyped in the Chinese stock market. Many listed firms use this metaverse concept to attract public attention but might not be ready to embrace it. They lack the readiness to deliver or enable the metaverse (Austin, 2022; Nath, 2022). Organizational readiness is defined as the availability of the needed resources for implementing information technology successfully (Iacovou et al., 1995). Although organizational readiness...