Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the metaverse have revolutionized work management practices by offering intelligent, immersive, and collaborative digital workplaces. Past studies, however, focused more on technology adoption, digital competence, or metaverse use, overlooking their collective impact on workforce readiness and institutional adaptability. Thus, in this study, a new Workforce Management Framework (WMF) that integrates the impacts of technology adoption and digital competence in the metaverse environment to address institutional adaptability is proposed. The framework establishes a deterministic scoring index, which is evaluated against machine learning models to assess workforce readiness: Accuracy, Precision, Recall, F1-Score, and Workforce Readiness Index (WRI). The proposed framework demonstrated a strong performance of 98.52% accuracy, 98.17% precision, 97.95% recall, and 98.06% F1-Score. In addition, the WRI was 96.27%, showing a strong capacity for future digital workplaces. Briefly put, the ablation study revealed the strong influence of digital competence over other features (e.g., Institutional Adaptiveness and Technology Acceptance) in shaping workforce readiness. This is a novel study that simultaneously addresses workforce analytics using AI, workforce collaboration in the metaverse, technology adoption, and digital competence, all for predicting and evaluating future workforce readiness. The outcomes can guide policy-makers, organizations, and schools on sustainable approaches to workforce development in this digital age.