Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation for Collaborative Software: A Systematic Literature Review

In the design of collaborative software in a traditional way, it is often overlooked how complex user interactions become in a social context. This article presents a systematic literature review, investigating the most recent work in simulation and agent-based modeling (ABM), with a focus on group interactions, to support collaborative software. This review explores how ABM can close this gap by simulating group dynamics and social interactions. We analyzed the reviewed studies to identify how ABM can be used to model user interactions within collaborative software environments, design socially intelligent software agents, and understand user psychology within social networks. Using research results from ABM simulations that model the psychological principles of users, or incorporating data from social networks, for example, software engineers can develop collaborative software that integrates seamlessly with human social behavior. This approach has the potential to lead to the development of more user-friendly, efficient and socially intelligent software systems.