Abstract

As manufacturing firms seek to realize the affordances of Industry 5.0, they face the challenge of creating human -centric, sustainable systems, not just efficient ones. While the Metaverse presents the potential to forge a path toward sustainable and human -centric manufacturing, its current academic conceptualization risks reverting to a narrow focus on technical efficiency. To investigate this, a systematic literature review of 42 studies was conducted, using three analytical lenses, the Triple Bottom Line , a foundational IT Business Value framework, and the Sociotechnical Axis of Cohesion. Findings reveal a structural bias toward easily measured environmental and operational gains, while the social dimension of sustainability is neglected. A stark ‘rhetori c vs reality’ gap between the desire for interactive systems and the prevalence of technocentric practice was uncovered. By documenting these imbalances, this paper provides a clear justification for future research into how the Metaverse can deliver both operational value and genuine human -centric sustainability

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