The popularity of coaching practice has markedly increased in the workplace over the last two decades. According to data obtained from the International Coaching Federation (ICF), coaching has become a 2.8 billion dollar industry in 2020, employing approximately 71,000 coaches worldwide. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD) studies report that substantial investment is being made to build internal coaching and human capital capacity within work organizations and the number of managers utilizing coaching skills continues rising sharply. In correspondence to this trend, coaching research has been steadily growing and begun to provide evidence of the value generated by coaching for individuals, teams, and organizations. The expansion of scientific research and examination occurs with the prominence and demand for coaching practice in recent years. This escalated attention broadened coaching types and approaches and brought about a diversification in coaching such as executive coaching, managerial coaching, peer coaching, etc.

Despite the heightened interest, our understanding of coaching is limited. Although the popularity of coaching has grown in organizations, the scientific investigation of coaching is still in its adolescence stage. Academic literature and research on coaching trail behind the practice of coaching. Often criticized as being best practice or opinion-based, coaching remains an under-studied and examined field. We lack a clear appreciation of theory and theoretical underpinnings that illuminate the practice of coaching. There is a need for more research on coaching to increase the level of our understanding and evidence-based practice of coaching. Hence, this Research Topic of Frontiers in Psychology on Coaching is appropriate and necessary.

The purpose of the Research Topic is to encourage theoretical and empirical articles of both relevance and rigor in the scientific investigation of coaching. The special issue will introduce theoretical frameworks and underpinnings that can ground and illustrate coaching practice. It will also introduce the empirical base of original research on various types and approaches of coaching. It is intended that the Research Topic will consolidate and synthesize extant academic research on coaching and provide implications for advanced caching practice as well as future research agenda.

We issue the call for abstracts and papers for the Research Topic of the Frontiers in Psychology on Coaching. The Research Topic seeks to attract research that provides a central focus on coaching in the workplace. Quality papers in any of coaching types represented by academic literature are welcome, both theoretical and empirical. Possible topics include the following:
• Executive coaching, managerial coaching, peer coaching, or a new genre of coaching in the workplace
• New theory and conceptual model applicable to coaching
• Coaching processes and mechanisms
• The value of coaching over the long term
• Antecedents and boundary conditions that promote or hinder coaching practice and culture
• Coaching measurement
• Coach education and certification
• International and cross-cultural coaching

We encourage submissions with the following methodology: (a) theory building; (b) empirical research of quantitative, qualitative, or mixed nature; and (c) meta-analyses. Lastly, we prefer submissions with the following article type: (a) original research; (b) empirical Study; (c) hypothesis and theory; and (d) systematic review. Submissions must follow the Frontiers in Psychology author guidelines.

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