Purpose
This paper aims to review the concept and characteristics of coworking space, especially physical and operational characteristics and its objectives. The authors propose three models of ...coworking spaces, such as revenue, synergistic and customer contact, which organizations can use as a part of their corporate real estate strategies to build workplace flexibility and resiliency. This paper also addresses research gaps and a research agenda for future research.
Methodology
This paper is a literature review of academic research focusing on coworking spaces. Because of the relatively limited existing academic literature on the topic, industry sources and white papers are also reviewed.
Findings
The authors categorized common threads of the existing literature on coworking spaces to emergence and growth trends, the types of users, the type of work to be completed in these spaces, characteristics of coworking spaces and the desired outcomes of coworking space models. Coworking spaces are expected to grow worldwide because of the increase in knowledge-based economy, the “digital nomad” lifestyle and mobile technologies, however, there is limited research on the relationship between spatial and operational characteristics of coworking spaces and users’ collaboration, social well-being and creativity. No research identified fully articulated the nuanced differences between the types of coworking spaces now found in the real estate ecosystem.
Research limitations
There is limited academic, empirical research focusing on coworking spaces. Thus, the search for literature itself is limited to a small number of papers. Although the authors extended the search to non-academic sources, the conclusion of this study is tentative because of the prematurity of the topic.
Originality/value
This paper urges the identification of research questions, considering the fast growth of coworking spaces and suggests future research directions based on newly proposed models. Industry practitioners, including building owners, managers, coworking space providers and corporate real estate practitioners, can consider using variations of coworking space concepts and characteristics, as they understand the importance of social needs and connectivity among users. By addressing the history of the coworking space as a concept and business model, and updating the types of models to include new coworking spaces, the authors provide further options to industry practitioners as to how to integrate coworking into their real estate.
Although receiving help is largely viewed as a positive gesture, we argue that some people may interpret being helped differently depending on their self-views. We focus on help received while ...working in the novel context of coworking spaces. Coworking space members differ from traditional coworkers in that they are not structurally linked to each other and may even work in a different industry, thus eliminating the competitive and political trappings of normal workplace help exchanges. Employing a daily-diary methodology and applying affective events theory (AET), we confirm that being helped via the provision of feedback, problem solving, emotional support, and network connections results in both daily- and person-levels of vigor. Person-level vigor, in turn, impacts the creativity and coworking space departure intentions of the worker one month later. We further predict and find, consistent with self-verification theory, that participants with higher self-esteem experience more vigor resulting from receiving help from others as compared to those experiencing lower self-esteem. Collectively, these findings suggest that some people may benefit from working in these new work contexts more than others.
•Help received in coworking spaces is positive at both the daily and person level.•Feedback, problem solving, emotional support, and network connections forms of help increased vigor.•Help received increased creativity and decreased coworking space departure intentions via vigor.•Those experiencing high self-esteem benefitted the most from help.•Effects held when controlling for small talk, another form of social interaction.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Coworking spaces have been affirmed in recent years as a mainstream, ‘neo-corporate’ model of flexible work in post-recession, urban knowledge economies. However, there is growing evidence of spaces ...that apply the discourses and practices of the coworking movement in ways that are alternative to the neo-corporate paradigm, both in urban and non-urban contexts. Exploring the ethos and practices of an urban co-operative space in London and a rural innovation hub in Southern Italy, the article illustrates the emergence of coworking endeavours that set in opposition to the neo-corporate model, and describes them as ‘resilient’. We show that resilient coworking spaces are organisational actors that interact with the surrounding context much more than their counterparts, blending entrepreneurial logics with forms of political and social activism. We argue their emergence might be the harbinger of a new phase in the evolution of the coworking phenomenon.
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NUK, OILJ, SAZU, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
In recent times, the emergence of coworking spaces (CSs) has changed not only the way workers cooperate, but also how they carry out their activities. This phenomenon, limited mainly to urban areas, ...has spread heterogeneously across cities. The paper focuses on the location of CSs in Barcelona, Warsaw and Utrecht, three European cities that differ in terms of the typology of creation of these workspaces. In the three analysed cities, CSs are mainly private initiatives, although in Barcelona they are developed by small entrepreneurs, while in Warsaw they are developed by large multinational CS chains. Using K-density (Kd) functions and density maps, we contribute to the empirical literature by identifying how CSs coagglomerate with the service sectors, how CSs are concentrated in core areas of each city and how these factors differ between cities, taking into account the typology of CSs. We found that the CS location and coagglomeration depend on the spatial structure of the city and its development model; therefore, policymakers should take this into account in order to implement appropriate policy measures to attract CSs
•CSs agglomerate differently in cities with different levels of urban hierarchy and reveal different CSs location strategies.•The coagglomeration of CSs with Knowledge Intensive Services (KIS) and symbolic knowledge base firms has been confirmed.•Market and high tech KIS with CSs build an urban entrepreneurial ecosystem.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
With a rising globalization of the economy and society, the digital transformation, and the economic downturn started in 2008, working is becoming less dependent on distance, location, and time. ...These are some of the reasons that have fostered the development and diffusion of new working spaces like coworking spaces. The paper aims at exploring the location determinants of coworking spaces, an issue that has been less developed by the literature up to now. By focusing on the 549 coworking spaces located in Italy at the year 2018, the paper investigates the location factors of such workplaces, and the attractiveness of large cities as well as peripheral areas. The results of the descriptive statistics and the econometric analysis (a Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial model is applied) confirm that coworking is mainly an urban phenomenon, since coworking spaces tend to be knowledge-intensive places for creative people. Specifically, the municipalities showing higher innovation and entrepreneurial environment (i.e. major cities) are preferred locations. Besides, it is discussed whether coworking spaces may contribute to fostering the development of peripheral and inner areas in Italy, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic where the share of teleworkers outside metropolitan areas has massively increased.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Due to structural demographic shifts, declining population, economic restructuring and deindustrialization, the number of shrinking cities has been increasing in South Korea. To tackle these ...challenges, policy makers have promoted entrepreneurial environments, largely absent in such cities, to accelerate rates of revitalization by attracting talented young knowledge workers. The creation of collaborative coworking spaces is one of these policy responses. However, there have been rising concerns over whether such coworking spaces are producing the expected outcomes. It is uncertain whether policy makers are encouraging the development of coworking spaces without strong evidence of their effectiveness. The purpose of this paper is to find out what roles coworking spaces play in small and medium sized shrinking cities. A five-month study was conducted in 12 small and medium sized cities (<500,000 population) using two interrelated methods: 1) an online survey with users of coworking spaces in their 20s and 30s and 2) semi-structured interviews with the managing staff/owners of 4 coworking spaces. Based on the study, the research concludes that the coworking spaces played a key role in bringing young people together and helping them to start new businesses by providing proper hard and soft infrastructure, hosting events and sharing information and knowledge.
•The emergence, concept and expected outcomes of coworking spaces in relation to urban revitalization.•The demographic changes, economic restructuring and the increasing number of shrinking cities in Korea.•An online survey with users of coworking spaces in their 20s and 30s.•Semi-structured interviews with managing staff/owners of coworking spaces.•The roles and limitations of coworking spaces in shrinking cities in Korea.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Coworking is a rapidly growing worldwide phenomenon. While the coworking movement emphasises equality and emancipation, there is little known about the extent to which coworking spaces as new forms ...of organising live up to this ideal. This study examines inequality in coworking spaces in the Netherlands, employing Acker’s framework of inequality regimes. The findings highlight coworking-specific components of inequality regimes, in particular stereotyped assumptions regarding ‘ideal members’ that establish the bases of inequality, practices that produce inequality (e.g. through the commodification of community) and practices that perpetuate inequality (e.g. the denial of inequality). The study provides an update of Acker’s framework in the context of coworking and speaks, more broadly, to the growing body of literature on (in)equality in emerging organisational contexts.
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NUK, OILJ, SAZU, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present the main barriers, practices, methods and knowledge management tools in startups that are characterized as agile organizations with dynamic ...capabilities to meet the demands of a business environment of high volatility, uncertainties, complexity and ambiguity.
Design/methodology/approach
The conceptual basis of the research focused on the triad: agile organization, dynamic capabilities and knowledge management. Field research began by interviewing experts to identify the barriers, practices, methods and knowledge management tools in startups. Based on the theoretical review, on the desk research and on the result of interviews with experts, a quantitative research was carried out with the leading startups coworking of São Paulo city. The obtained data made it possible to develop descriptive analyses and run linear regressions and cluster analysis for exploratory research.
Findings
Startups with higher maturity in innovation level, solution development level, and scalability development level, present a higher degree of utilization of the practices, methods and tools dedicated to knowledge management.
Practical implications
It is expected that results of the research presented in detail will be able to illustrate concrete examples of practices, methods, and knowledge management tools for large established companies seeking the organizational agility of startups.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the identification of barriers, practices, methods and tools of management of knowledge in startups, through the conceptual triad: agile organization, dynamic capabilities and knowledge management.
Small-scale do-it-yourself (DIY) practices have driven emerging user communities and global movements. As research on ecosystems has proliferated, limited insights have been generated on the ...interdependent and dynamic nature of DIY ecosystems. Drawing on observations of a locally established space for DIY activities (“makerspace”) with international networks, a flexible pattern matching approach was adopted in explaining how disparate projects played a primary role in the formation of a self-sustaining DIY ecosystem with interdependent start-up actors, or “makers”. Two patterns were drawn from the literature on DIY ecosystems to discover matches and mismatches in longitudinal data that were drawn from a coworking-space in Shenzhen, China. The findings suggest two emergent dimensions: internal alignment, and connection with, and resilience to, the ecosystem's external environment. We explain how these dimensions advance understanding of DIY ecosystems by illuminating their interdependent and self-sustaining nature. Policy recommendations are also offered in supporting the development particularly of user communities in makerspaces.
•A flexible pattern matching approach was adopted to generate new insights on DIY ecosystems beyond regional borders and focal actors.•The study applied two patterns drawn from the literature on ecosystems to discover matches and mismatches in longitudinal data that were collected from multiple participants and archives of a coworking-space in Shenzhen, China.•Adopting Adner’s (2017) ecosystem-as-structure perspective, the study found an internally aligned structure that facilitated DIY practices and the development of creative ideas, and a strong connection between the ecosystem and its environment, and resilience to that environment.•These dimensions advance scholarly and policymakers’ knowledge of the distinguishable features of self-regulating DIY ecosystems and how these ecosystems may emerge and their features may form and coalesce from DIY practices.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Abstract The last decade has witnessed increased demand by employers and workers for greater flexibility, especially regarding remote and hybrid work. There has therefore been a substantial increase ...in academic interest in coworking, including within business and management studies. We conduct a systematic literature review of research on coworking and coworking spaces (CWS) to argue this field is now sufficiently developed to merit recognition as an important element of discussion surrounding workplaces of the future. We outline the core themes in coworking research and identify three key research weaknesses relating to common understandings of community, context and change. The article then advances a future research agenda based on two avenues of enquiry. First, greater attention needs to be paid to the value propositions of CWS as businesses. Second, the concept of embeddedness should be used to better understand CWS in their local and national contexts, and we argue for a broader, place‐based analytical focus on CWS. We present two possible future scenarios for CWS, based on opposing forces of homogenisation and differentiation, and we outline their relevance for further debate surrounding workplaces of the future.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
