Collaborative Capability in Coworking Spaces: Convenience Sharing or Community Building?

Abstract

This study explored the development of collaborative capability in coworking spaces, as perceived by the main stakeholders. It is based on the hypothesis that coworking spaces foster collaboration capabilities among their users. In-depth interviews around the meaning of collaboration and its challenges were conducted in fourteen coworking spaces, located in six Asian countries, and involved 31 stakeholders. A set of intervening factors was identified, along four dimensions: enabling knowledge sharing; enhancing a creative field; supporting individual actions for collective results; and collective action towards an effective execution. The results indicate that ´Convenience Sharing´ coworking spaces are mostly related to knowledge sharing and supporting collective action towards an effective execution, whereas ´Community Building´ coworking spaces are more related to enhancing a creative field and supporting individual actions for collective results. Overall, there is a clear influence of a collaboration capability in coworking spaces, especially in ´Community Building´ spaces. Keywords: