The Future of Work: Do We Need Interactive Collaborative Offices? The Most Interesting Survey in a Post-Covid World

Meta Platforms (Facebook) launched a novel paradigm of work called "Horizon Workrooms", an interactive collaborative office facilitated by virtual and augmented reality, which has also brought various fields to deploy phenomenal investment into the Metaverse. Meta focuses on building the "Metaverse", a buzzword that originated from the science fiction novel Snow Crash (1992). The new pattern of work has obtained positive feedback during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, only two years later, People think Metaverse may be just a passing fad as millions give up on it. So, do we need interactive collaborative offices in a Post-Covid World? This study integrates the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and Task-Technology Fit (TTF) models to investigate whether user acceptance of Horizon Workrooms is influenced by users' perceptions and task-technology fit. The study uses Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to shed light on whether user acceptance is affected by these factors. This study also aims to determine whether the framework of the general scenario in the Metaverse differs from that in the work scenario in communication from the perspective of technology and the ecosystem, and if so, what the technology roadmap in the work scenario should be. The key findings indicate that the priority of the architecture in the work scenario is different from that of the general scenario in the Metaverse. According to the results, nine out of eleven hypotheses are valid. Unexpectedly, we found there is no direct correlation between task-technology fit and users' behavioural intention, which is contrary to our expectations and previous studies. The study suggests that priority should be given to six technologies when more resources are invested in building up virtual offices in Metaverse: extended reality, computer vision, network, edge computing, content creation, and social acceptability. Additionally, the study suggests that the focus of current technological development does not need to be placed on four technologies, namely avatar, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and virtual economy, for the time being.