Finding new purpose for vacancies in rural areas: a taxonomy of coworking space business models

As a result of the rural exodus over the last decades, unused vacancies in rural areas are at risk of falling into disrepair. Given the current trends of flexible workplaces and people returning to rural areas, their repurposing as coworking spaces (CWSs) by entrepreneurs poses a potential for sustainable future-oriented workplace solutions. However, there is little to no guidance on the structural configuration and business models of CWSs in rural areas available for these entrepreneurs. We apply a structured empirical research approach to create a comprehensive and specialized taxonomy, including a literature review and eleven interviews with operators of rural CWSs in Germany. The resulting taxonomy of business models of CWSs in rural areas based on an extension of the business model canvas contributes to the knowledge base on rural CWSs. We evaluate its usability through a case study and an entrepreneurial operator of a rural CWS, underlining its entrepreneurial and practice-oriented purpose. The study addresses several urgent topics, such as the future of work and new work (places), which enable and accelerate the development of CWSs outside agglomerations consequential to the COVID-19 pandemic. It also promotes social and sustainable entrepreneurship and the revitalizing, enhancing, and increasing of digital accessibility of rural regions.

Omnichannel as an innovative branding strategy for coworking space startup industry in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic (Case study in "ngalup" coworking space in Malang, East Java)

The era of the COVID-19 pandemic affects almost all industrial sectors, including start-up industry. This research aims to provide an overview of branding strategy innovations conducted by the startup coworking space industry, "Ngalup", especially to deal with various problems arising from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study used qualitative methodology utilizing interview techniques to collect all the necessary data from informants. The main informants in this study were the Marketing Communication Manager and Internal Community Host of "Ngalup"Coworking Space, and the supporting informants were visitors and participants of "Ngalup"Coworking Space event. The results showed that the problem included decreased engagement on social media and decreased revenue due to the lack of visitor because some events or activities had to be shifted to online. To overcome this, "Ngalup"has tried to optimize omnichannel branding strategy, which is the integration of multichannel including online and offline to continuously improve the customer experience, such as optimizing their online media channels and programs, creating a new project 'Digarapin' as a new business model to gain revenue, and maintain the five-star hotel service. The research conluded that the branding strategy developed by "Ngalup"through omnichannel has helped "Ngalup"maintained the top coworking space in Malang and taken advantage of the development opportunities in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2023 Author(s).

What impact will the Covid-19 crisis have on coworking practices?

The objective of this article is to offer a prospective reflection and to contribute to the ongoing debate on the future of coworking spaces in different types of territories. The Covid-19 crisis might alter durably the role of the different types of proximities and the professional practices of coworkers. We surveyed coworkers in spring 2020 and our results suggest that coworking should pursue its development in all types of territories. However, new practices should be implemented within coworking spaces in order to adapt to Covid-19 restrictions and economic context. © 2022 Lavoisier, Paris. Tous droits réservés.

The role of coworking spaces in the changing landscape of future workplace agility: linking boundary organization theory and organizational development models

PurposeThis study aims to illustrate the potential of coworking spaces as one way to achieve optimal workplace arrangements and corporate real estate (CRE) agility, especially for large organizations. The authors suggest understanding coworking spaces from the boundary organization theory and organizational growth model.Design/methodology/approachThis study takes a threefold theoretical approach: conducting a literature review and identifying the gaps in coworking studies for large organizations, applying the organizational boundary theory in tandem with organizational growth models in the context of coworking spaces as a part of the workplace ecology and identifying future research agendas for coworking studies.FindingsThis study proposes a conceptual framework of how coworking spaces can be viewed and used as a boundary object throughout the organizational growth phases. Besides, four major future research areas are proposed: case studies and/or empirical evidence of coworking spaces as CRE buffer zones and boundary objects for organizations, coworking space design and different formats of boundary object-infused collaboration, coworking space design and management for its own agility and flexibility and how coworking affects employees' performance, health and well-being and professional training/mentoring.Practical implicationsFor large organizations, there is a clear pressure to rethink CRE to increase workplace agility, flexibility and resilience, much accelerated with the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding the effective use of coworking spaces as a part of CRE portfolios will help enhance corporates' state and ability to reassess, realign and replan their CRE portfolios.Originality/valueMany existing studies about coworking spaces are based on observations and self-reported justification at an individual level. Whether and how coworking can benefit companies at an organizational level is largely unstudied and worth more attention. This study illustrates a new theoretical understanding of how coworking spaces can be a part of CRE portfolios and bring potential benefits of inter and intraorganizational collaboration throughout the phases of organizational growth.

The role of coworking spaces in the changing landscape of future workplace agility: linking boundary organization theory and organizational development models

Purpose: This study aims to illustrate the potential of coworking spaces as one way to achieve optimal workplace arrangements and corporate real estate (CRE) agility, especially for large organizations. The authors suggest understanding coworking spaces from the boundary organization theory and organizational growth model. Design/methodology/approach: This study takes a threefold theoretical approach: conducting a literature review and identifying the gaps in coworking studies for large organizations, applying the organizational boundary theory in tandem with organizational growth models in the context of coworking spaces as a part of the workplace ecology and identifying future research agendas for coworking studies. Findings: This study proposes a conceptual framework of how coworking spaces can be viewed and used as a boundary object throughout the organizational growth phases. Besides, four major future research areas are proposed: case studies and/or empirical evidence of coworking spaces as CRE buffer zones and boundary objects for organizations, coworking space design and different formats of boundary object-infused collaboration, coworking space design and management for its own agility and flexibility and how coworking affects employees’ performance, health and well-being and professional training/mentoring. Practical implications: For large organizations, there is a clear pressure to rethink CRE to increase workplace agility, flexibility and resilience, much accelerated with the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding the effective use of coworking spaces as a part of CRE portfolios will help enhance corporates’ state and ability to reassess, realign and replan their CRE portfolios. Originality/value: Many existing studies about coworking spaces are based on observations and self-reported justification at an individual level. Whether and how coworking can benefit companies at an organizational level is largely unstudied and worth more attention. This study illustrates a new theoretical understanding of how coworking spaces can be a part of CRE portfolios and bring potential benefits of inter and intraorganizational collaboration throughout the phases of organizational growth. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Interorganizational coworking: attenuating complexity, enhancing resilience and fostering open innovation and knowledge cocreation

Purpose: This study aims to explore how interorganizational coworking spaces (CWS) affect complexity, resilience, open innovation and knowledge cocreation. Design/methodology/approach: This is a qualitative study using the exploratory design. Data are gathered through semistructured interviews and naturalistic observation in six different CWS. Findings: In line with previous studies, the findings show that being in a CWS with professionals of various backgrounds and contained levels of diversity make people prone to communication and knowledge sharing. Differently from previous research about knowledge creation in CWS, this study discovered that knowledge cocreation was only averagely affected. Complexity and resilience were the most influenced dimensions with scores higher than average, followed by open innovation and knowledge cocreation. Research limitations/implications: Main limitations are related to the qualitative method itself which may not reach the data saturation and with the nonsynergistic analysis of all dimensions together. A further limitation arose because of the COVID-19 pandemic which contributed to downsizing the number of participants while restricting the options of the involved research instruments. The implications for research are related to a need for further studies using large-scale surveys to strengthen the reliability of research. Additionally, more research is needed to explore the multiple dimensions of open innovation, complexity and resilience in CWS. Practical implications: For CWS providers, it is recommended to create thematic/clustered areas of collaboration based on specific professions. For early-stage businesses, freelancers and micro/entrepreneurial firms that do not wish to lease their own office, CWS provide an opportunity for value cocreation and open innovation. Social implications: CWS, either physical or virtual, can be used as a retreat approach and a socialization platform, especially for those in need to recover from post-traumatic stress due to the imposed isolation caused by COVID-19 pandemic. Originality/value: Given the unexplored phenomena of complexity and resilience in CWS, the major contribution of this research is related to the impact of interorganizational coworking upon complexity and resilience. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Linking real estate data with entrepreneurial ecosystems: Coworking spaces, funding and founding activity of start-ups.

This data article describes a panel dataset that combines flexible office space market data with entrepreneurial data, such as founding and funding of ventures in 47 European cities. One adaption of new ways of working are coworking spaces. They are shared working environments that offer office space and intangible resources, such as knowledge sharing, collaboration and networking. Access to flexible office space for self-employed, start-ups, and corporates is a key resource for businesses. Covid-19 has shown that space provision is becoming more flexible and ventures increasingly use scalable space instead of long-term lease agreements for office space or than owning it. Deskmag counts 18,700 coworking spaces worldwide in the year of 2018 with 1.65 million coworkers and high future growth expectations after COVID-19 [1]. Data were collected through two sources. Data about coworking spaces were collected through a web scraper crawling for coworking spaces within a city as of December 31, 2018. Those data were manually enriched by real estate and economic variables, such as the office high prime rent and office market size. Data about the funding and founding of ventures were obtained through using the database Crunchbase, including all start-ups in a city with their type of funding (including: seed, venture capital, private equity, debt convertibles and others) and their financing rounds. The Crunchbase database lists mostly young firms, commonly called start-ups and small medium enterprises (SME), and their financing with external funding. It includes firms that have needed or might need funding in the near future, or have already got funding. Hence, it is possible to relate spatial clusters with entrepreneurial activity and analyze for example the influence of (flexible) office markets on founding activity. This dataset enables researchers and practitioners to further explore important questions regarding the nexus between the real estate industry, entrepreneurship behavior, start-ups and regional clusters. Due to the scarcity of publicly available quality flexible office space market data, the dataset detailed in this article may play a relevant role to be ready to be used by researchers and practitioners. Funding data can be used for regional analysis, growth development, or any other economic issues.