Metaverse governance in international business: a systematic literature review (1990-2025)

Purpose The metaverse is an evolving concept that will seamlessly merge the physical and virtual worlds together. For international businesses (IB), the opportunity is huge, but so are the governance challenges. The purpose of this paper is to map the current domain of research in metaverse governance, identify common research themes and provide directions for future IB scholarship and practice. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review was conducted of all papers published on metaverse governance between 1st January 1990 to 16th February 2023 using the SCOPUS database. This review was extended to IB from January 1990–March 2025. A final set of 101 papers were then analyzed. Findings The study identifies 14 themes and 104 governance challenges associated with metaverse. The review finds that most articles focused on data (45%), security (32%) and identity-related issues (27%). A majority of studies were not country specific (73%) with very few industries represented (most of which were single studies). This finding suggests an opportunity for deeper research into the identified governance streams, expanding empirical settings and national contexts while also exploring additional industry sectors. Originality/value This is one of the first systematic literature reviews on metaverse governance. The study identifies research trends and offers potential research avenues through the lens of IB knowledge domains and theoretical frameworks. Additionally, the study introduces a novel multi-level metaverse governance framework developed to help IBses navigate the complex interplay of stakeholders, values and regulatory environments across jurisdictions to achieve long-term sustainability in the metaverse.