Abstract

The metaverse is increasingly presented as a transformative digital environment for interaction, commerce, and engagement, enabled by virtual, augmented, and mixed reality technologies (Ahuja et al., 2023). Its applications span entertainment, tourism, education, and healthcare, offering new forms of value creation and social connection. From virtual surgeries in hospitals to digital twin campuses in universities, the metaverse is becoming a host for digitally native lifestyles (Lee et al., 2021; Wang et al., 2022). Despite this potential, users frequently report fragmented and unsatisfying experiences. Issues such as incomplete embodiment, unstable digital identities, limited trust, and ethical ambiguity persist, raising an important question: why do socio-technical systems that are technologically advanced still struggle to deliver coherent, trustworthy, and immersive experiences? This study takes an initial step toward addressing this question by analyzing how customer experience (CX) is represented in metaverse research. Drawing on bibliometric techniques (co-citation, co-word, and bibliographic coupling), we examine the broader knowledge structures of the field rather than isolated technologies or user groups. To interpret the findings, we employ Actor-Network Theory (ANT), which highlights how outcomes depend on the alignment or misalignment of diverse human and technological actors. The bibliometric analysis reveals a discourse dominated by technical infrastructures (e.g., VR/AR systems, blockchain), with comparatively limited attention to human-centered dimensions of experience. Looking forward, this research will extend the bibliometric stage with a systematic literature review and future empirical studies that examine additional dimensions of customer experience

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