Table 3.

A research agenda for virtual coaches

Research aspect	Exemplary research questions
A: Virtual Coach (VC)	RQ1: How can the VC be deployed on multiple devices (e.g., smartphone, smartwatch, VR/AR glasses) for combined application scenarios? RQ2: How can a “multi coach” approach be designed and implemented? RQ3: How can learning abilities of the system be implemented to personalize the coaching process? RQ4: Which XAI methods are particularly suitable for VCs to enhance user trust? RQ5: What are technical mechanisms to ensure the safety of the user? RQ6: How should generic virtual coaching solutions be designed?
B: User	RQ7: How can the constructs of psychological theories that explain learning and behavior change be effectively mapped to software systems (see Table 2)? RQ8: How can the VC support habit formation?
C: User—VC Interaction	RQ9: What are the long-term effects of certain social cues? RQ10: How can the VC be designed to effectively promote persuasiveness and user engagement? RQ11: How can a long-term human–VC relationship be established and maintained? RQ12: What are the consequences of an omnipresence of the coach? RQ13: How can ethical aspects be addressed when designing VCs?
D: Human Coach	RQ14: How should the interface for the human coach be designed? RQ15: How can human expert knowledge be efficiently integrated into the VC?
E: Context	RQ16: What are unobtrusive approaches to capture and predict the context? RQ17: What are application areas of VCs?
Overarching research questions	RQ18: Do VCs influence coaching-oriented business models (creating a coaching economy)? RQ19: Do VCs change established industries or other domains (e.g., healthcare)? RQ20: Will VCs help reduce inequalities (e.g., in education)?