Psychological barriers to metaverse-based education: examining the impact of technophobia and digital fatigue

Purpose This study aims to examine the psychological barriers to Metaverse-based education, focusing on the impact of technophobia and digital fatigue constructs. While the metaverse offers innovative educational experiences, these psychological factors may hinder its adoption, necessitating a deeper understanding of their influence. Design/methodology/approach This study adopted a quantitative research approach utilizing a survey methodology to examine how technophobia and digital fatigue shape students’ perceptions of metaverse-based education. Data were gathered from university students with prior experience with virtual learning platforms. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted using SmartPLS 4.0 to evaluate the relationships among key variables, ensuring a robust analysis of the proposed model. Findings The findings reveal that technophobia impacts students’ perceptions of ease of use, while digital fatigue adversely affects their perceived usefulness. Furthermore, perceived ease of use improves perceived usefulness, and both factors play a crucial role in shaping students’ intention to adopt metaverse-based education. These results underscore the significant influence of psychological barriers on technology acceptance within digital learning environments. Originality/value This research expands the discussion on metaverse adoption in education by incorporating psychological factors into existing technology acceptance frameworks. Identifying critical psychological barriers offers valuable insights for educators, policymakers and platform developers to enhance accessibility, reduce digital fatigue and optimize the usability of metaverse-based learning environments.