CSR in the Agri-Metaverse: Virtual Engagement, Sustainability Reporting, and Firm
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56294/digi2025276Keywords:
CSR, Agri-Metaverse, Sustainability Reporting, Firm Performance, Virtual EngagementAbstract
Metaverse integration in the agribusiness CSR practices constitutes a radical change of practice in companies to involve stakeholders, report sustainability, and performance motivation. Using virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), blockchain, and artificial intelligence (AI) as the examples of the immersiveness technologies can open up new chances of transparent disclosure of CSR, consumer involvement, and accountability throughout the agricultural supply chains. Virtual simulations allow firms to showcase green farming methods, trace their supply chain, and participate in sustainability promotions with the help of consumers. Moreover, virtual engagement can be taken into consideration so that firms can report CSR activities credibly and minimise risks of virtual greenwashing. The quantitative research design was used in the study. There were 350 questionnaires that were distributed among managers and financial, accounting, sustainability, and operations professionals in 30 agribusiness firms. When all the incomplete responses were eliminated, 287 valid questionnaires remained, which constituted an effective response rate of 82 percent. The finding of regression analysis proved that CSR-AM is a significant predictor of firm performance. The study concluded that agri-metaverse allows companies to run CSR practices beyond conventional ones to create interactive and verifiable experiences. It was recommended that CSR in the agri-metaverse should be the incubator of innovation, farmer empowerment, and soaring ambitions in the agricultural industry, rather than branding efforts.
References
Chen, F., Sun, C., Xing, B., Luo, N., & Liu, H. Agricultural Metaverse: Key Technologies, Application Scenarios, Challenges and Prospects. J. of Smart Agriculture, 2022, 4(4), 126-137. Coppola, A., Ianuario, S., Romano, S., & Viccaro, M. Corporate social responsibility in agri-food firms: the relationship between CSR actions and firm’s performance. AIMS Environmental Science, 2020, 7(6), 542-558. https://doi.org/10.3934/environsci.2020034 Nazzaro C, Stanco M, Marotta G. The life cycle of corporate social responsibility in agri-food: Value Creation Models. Sustainability. 2020; 12(4):1287. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12041287 Sarajoti, P., Chatjuthamard, P., Papangkorn, S., & Phiromswad, P. CSR Reporting and Blockchain Technology. IntechOpen. 2023. doi: 10.5772/intechopen.105512 Kaplan, A., & Haenlein, M. (2022). Rulers of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of the metaverse. Business Horizons, 65(5), 647–659. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2022.05.006 Freeman, R. E. (1984). Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Pitman. Aguinis, H., & Glavas, A. (2012). What we know and don’t know about corporate social responsibility: A review and research agenda. Journal of Management, 38(4), 932–968. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206311436079 Turker, D. (2009). Measuring corporate social responsibility: A scale development study. Journal of Business Ethics, 85(4), 411–427. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9780-6 Ali, W.; Danni, Y.; Latif, B.; Kouser, R.; Baqader, S. Corporate social responsibility and customer loyalty in food chains, mediating role of customer satisfaction and corporate reputation. Sustainability 2021, 13, 8681. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13168681 Spyrou, O., Ariza-Sentís, M., Vélez, S. Enhancing Education in Agriculture via XR-Based Digital Twins: A Novel Approach for the Next Generation. Applied System Innovation, 2025, 8(2), 38. Boccia, F., Covino, D. Knowledge and Food Sustainability: the Metaverse as a New Economic-Environmental Paradigm. J Knowl Econ, 2024, 15, 14841-14854. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-023-01626-w Bebbington, J., Unerman, J., & O’Dwyer, B. Sustainability accounting and accountability. Routledge, 2020. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429291280 Sprinkle, G. B., & Maines, L. A. The benefits and costs of corporate social responsibility. Business Horizons, 2010, 53(5), 445-453. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2010.05.006 Simionescu, L.N.; Dumitrescu, D. Empirical Study towards Corporate Social Responsibility Practices and Company Financial Performance. Evidence for Companies Listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. Sustainability 2018, 10, 3141. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10093141 Biró, K., Szalmáné Csete, M. Corporate social responsibility in agribusiness: climate-related empirical findings from Hungary. Environ Dev Sustain, 2021, 23, 5674–5694. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-020-00838-3 Yu, Y., & Huo, B. The impact of environmental orientation on supplier green management and financial performance: The moderating role of relational capital. Journal of Cleaner Production, 2019, 211, 628–639. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.11.198 Rathore, Sunaina, and Manpreet Arora. Sustainability reporting in the metaverse: A multi-sectoral analysis. Exploring the Use of Metaverse in Business and Education, edited by Jeetesh Kumar, et al., IGI Global Scientific Publishing, 2024, 147-165. https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-5868-9.ch009 Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (5th ed.), 2018. Sage Publications. Rashid, N., Wan Ismail, W. N. S., Abd Rahman, M. S., & Afthanorhan, A. Conceptual analysis on performance measurement used in SMEs research: The effectiveness of firm’s overall performance. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 2018, 8(11), 5199. https://doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v8-i11/5199 Dwivedi, Y. K., Hughes, L., Baabdullah, A. M., Ribeiro-Navarrete, S., Giannakis, M., Al-Debei, M. M., Dennehy, D., Metri, B., Buhalis, D., Cheung, C. M. K., Conboy, K., Doyle, R., Dubey, R., Dutot, V., Felix, R., Papagiannidis, S., Pappas, I. O., Rana, N. P., & Sharma, S. K. (2022). Metaverse beyond the hype: Multidisciplinary perspectives on emerging challenges, opportunities, and agenda for research, practice and policy. International Journal of Information Management, 66, 102542. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2022.102542 Suganthi, L. (2019). Examining the relationship between corporate social responsibility, performance, employees’ pro-environmental behavior at work with green practices as mediator. Journal of Cleaner Production, 232, 739–750. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.05.295 Nunnally, J. C. (1978). Psychometric Theory (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill. Rahman, N., Rashid, N., & Majid, A. H. A. Corporate social responsibility and financial performance: A study of Malaysian companies. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2014, 164, 98-104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.11.054 Hafez, M. The impact of sustainable farming on consumer trust and loyalty: Evidence from the agricultural sector. Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment, 2018, 23(2), 115-128.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Samuel Ejiro Uwhejevwe-Togbolo, Nyerhovwon Okuku, Adaighofua Obue, Ogheneovo Atie (Author)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The article is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Unless otherwise stated, associated published material is distributed under the same licence.