A systematic literature review exploring the relationship between metaverse and supply chain resilience: the role of sensory feedback

Abstract

Presently, metaverse technology as a three-dimensional virtual world has many benefits, especially in promoting collaboration and trusting relationships between partners. Therefore, it hints at the potential application in supply chain resilience. Given the outbreak of COVID-19, face-to-face communication has been very difficult to achieve, and opportunistic behaviour, fake information, etc., lead to a lack of transparency in the supply chain. These factors have resulted in the destruction of collaboration between supply chain partners, making it difficult to build a resilient supply chain. In this context, the metaverse provides an effective solution in fostering collaboration based on trust between partners, further promoting supply chain resilience. However, there is still a lack of evidence explaining why the metaverse has positive efficiency in this respect. Therefore, this study aims to fill this gap. A systematic literature review was conducted, and 18 relevant papers were analysed. We have identified the technology trends in virtual environments. Collaboration based on trust can be achieved in the metaverse. We also find key factors when the metaverse facilitates collaboration based on trust among supply chain partners to improve supply chain resilience, i.e., the role of sensory feedback. This paper is the first attempt to apply metadata in supply chain resilience. At the same time, it provides new solutions for managers in applying technologies to improve supply chain resilience. The main research limitation is the lack of an empirical analysis of the relationship among the metaverse, supply chain resilience, and sensory feedback. Research efforts should be geared towards developing a theoretical model for this relationship based on empirical analysis.