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Coworking spaces are recent developments in commercial property investment portfolio in Nigeria. Given the user-centered nature of coworking space practices, the purpose of this paper is to examine the factors influencing users’ preference for coworking, and the challenges associated with the use of coworking spaces in the emerging Nigeria property market.

This study used a quantitative research approach. This study sampled nine (9) traditional coworking spaces in Ibadan property market, from which 15 coworking space users were randomly selected in each of the coworking hubs. From a total of 135 respondents, only 45 (33.33%) questionnaires were retrieved and found suitable for analysis. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

The results showed that economic and social motivators were significant drivers influencing coworkers’ decision to cowork. Personal factors were the least rated. Also, top-rated features/facilities that users prefer in the workstations include a neat environment and conveniences, uninterrupted power supply, serenity of the neighborhood and ease of signing up. The findings also showed that the challenges being faced by the users were predominantly about disturbance/noise from guests and/or other users, lack of privacy, poor internet connectivity, power failure and inability to personalize workspace (in decreasing order).

This study has implications for investors and users of coworking spaces in comparable developing markets. Also, the study will influence strategies and decisions of private firms/companies, as it relates to the work pattern of their employees.

This paper is relevant given the emergent behavioral changes, necessitated by the changing work practices. This compels the need for a reevaluation of the preferences and challenges associated with coworking spaces, especially as it relates to the users of flexible office spaces in emerging economies.

Coworking-spaces are considered as a new formula to facilitate autonomy, creativity, self-efficacy, work satisfaction and innovation, yet they also might overburden their users who in that course intend to limit social interaction and collaboration in the workspace. Thus, the question is how coworking-spaces shape entrepreneurial ventures.

This study used an inductive research methodology based on data from three different data sources, including observations, archives and interviews from managers and entrepreneurs.

The findings suggest that the materiality in the form of spatial architectures (working, socialization and support structures) shared facilities and infrastructures (utilities, luxuries and specialties), and integrated digital technologies (applications and platforms) influence the flow of communication, internal and external linkages, as well as functional uniformity and distinctiveness. However, there exists an inherent dualism in sociomaterial assemblage in coworking-spaces, which can lead to instrumental and detrimental outcomes for entrepreneurs.

This study explains the role of sociomaterial assemblage on the working of entrepreneurs in shared workspaces.

The global coworking industry is currently growing at a rapid pace. Similarly, Prague is witnessing an influx of global coworking operators who entered the market since 2018 and are expanding significantly. The purpose of this paper is to investigate enabling factors for this growth.

After a brief review of coworking and relevant typologies of its various forms, the paper conducts a narrative review of the coworking industry in Prague and its socioeconomic situation. This is subsequently linked in a discussion on growth factors that have facilitated the growth of the coworking industry of Prague.

With global coworking brands expanding in Prague's coworking industry by primarily targeting corporate teams, they benefit from favorable socioeconomic conditions in Prague as an attractive destination for businesses, which increasingly opt for coworking spaces to reap its positive benefits.

Due to the conceptual approach and specific case of Prague, the discussions lack generalizability.

The paper provides valuable insight into the enabling growth factors that can serve practitioners to better predict and react to potential future developments, as well as provide an additional perspective in evaluating corporate real estate.

The paper contributes to the still underresearched field of coworking by investigating enabling growth factors in a macroeconomic context.

The purpose of this paper is to take an explanatory role and analyse the development of workspace ambiences in coworking spaces which optimise the chance of interactivity between individual users and leading towards cooperation. The paper thus offers a discussion on how the ambience that is tailored to a particular coworking space enhances the possibility of collaboration between two or more users of a selected workspace.

Ethnographically guided observations of six coworking spaces and qualitative interviews with their managers were used to gain an understanding of the workspace ambiences in coworking spaces. As direct measurement of the frequency of collaboration would be logistically profound, this paper rather explores the conditions for spontaneous or moderated interactivity between workspace users, which may be regulated by the creation of an optimal coworking space ambience.

The following paper defines the coworking space ambience as the look and the feel of a work environment which can arouse certain moods towards a particular place and its users. Coworking spaces may impose various approaches that not only attract potential workspace users and form initial ties between them but also produce a certain ambience that leads to collaborative action between users. The factors of spatial design need to be adapted, and engagement strategies need to be constructed to maximise the preferential output. The research behind the following paper concludes that the factors of spatial comfortability are an essential predisposition for workspace users to engage in cooperation with each other. Various mechanisms are needed to customise these engagements into cooperative action.

While the outcomes of sharing these environments have been periodically explored, no attempts have been made to investigate how coworking ambience is being created and implemented to optimise collaborative efforts of individuals who are sharing the workspace. For that reason, the audience of this paper should not only be limited to academics but may also be suitable for managers and office-space operators seeking to understand dynamics of collaboration within new types of shared office spaces.

Building on the existing literature and on a series of interviews conducted in very diverse coworking spaces, this article attempts at analyzing coworking by focusing on the historical evolution and heterogeneity of its interpretations, as well as the plurality of its realization in practice and prospective developments.

The theoretical framework adopted is Cultural Historical Activity Theory – a dialectical approach which allows the study of human activities as historically evolving and complex systems which change under the impulse of their inner contradictions. The analysis presented here starts with an overview of the history of the theoretical elaborations and discussions of coworking. The authors then focus on the experiences and interpretations of this phenomenon as conveyed by coworkers and coworking managers in the north of Italy – one of the most active coworking areas in Europe.

Coworking first emerged as a way of promoting forms of work and organization that require simultaneous, multidirectional, and reciprocal work, as understood in contrast to forms that incorporate an established division of labor, demarcated communities, and formal and informal sets of rules. However, with time, coworking has evolved toward novel directions, giving rise to heterogeneous interpretations of it. Inquiry constitutes a deeper investigation of the heterogeneity of coworking. The take-away message here is that the prefix co- in coworking can be interpreted, through a play of words, to evoke multiple positions and views conveying internal contradictions.

The historical overview of coworking shows a strong differentiation and multisided interpretation of this phenomenon along two dimensions of historical development, namely, social and business, and outward and inward. The qualitative analysis of the interviews traces the different lived interpretations and conceptions of coworking. The analysis confirms, on the one hand, the complexity and heterogeneity described in the literature, and on the other hand, it enriches the literature by depicting the contradictory nature of the phenomenon, including how the historical and inner tensions of coworking are dynamically evolving in the concrete experiences reported by the managers and users in the coworking spaces.

The purpose of this paper is to define coworking in juxtaposition to open, collaborative workspaces that have already long existed at companies and universities and to establish that this model of coworking has taken off in the business world, but has not taken off at education institutions.

The literature and existing resources on flexible work arrangement in academic settings are reviewed to explore the possible applications of a coworking model to higher education. Because of minimal empirical research on the topic, the paper opens up a much-needed discussion on coworking in a scholarly context and its potential benefits for institutions of higher education.

Establishing scholarly coworking units on a broader scale could enhance the development of a cross-regional dimension in education by encouraging mobility of both students and scholars and promote cooperation among educational institutions. The implementation of coworking spaces for universities has occurred at a much lower rate than business-oriented coworking spaces, and several potential reasons for this asymmetry are considered.

While establishing an on- or off-campus coworking environment for graduate and postgraduate pupils is explored to some extent, the possibility and beneficial role of a scholarly coworking space model are poorly understood and under-studied. This conceptual paper provides a framework for applying the coworking model to scholarly settings, with the potential to facilitate more open and inclusive scientific collaboration, research and education, addressing one of the central problems of geographic and institutional barriers to scholarship.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the motivations behind teleworkers’ role transitions in a coworking office and how these motivations shape role communication between independent workers in a shared office.

This paper draws upon observation, in-depth interviews (n=23) and temporary membership in the organization.

Self-enhancement and self-validation motivations work in concert to prompt individuals to capitalize on the networking opportunities that come with membership in this office and individuals strategically position an occupation-framed version of their identity in these networks.

Only one coworking office was studied. However, this is countered by the richness of the data.

Communication managers whose organizations employ teleworkers are encouraged to provide ongoing social and task-related support to their teleworkers; coworking site proprietors are encouraged to ensure members understand what is expected of them when they join a coworking office.

As teleworking is a widely-used flexible work arrangement, this study advances knowledge of teleworker management.

Scholars have not yet explored how individuals use coworking spaces and what motivates teleworkers to establish their role identities in mixed offices.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the topic of parents who work on a flexible basis and use coworking facilities to find a work–life balance and overcome work–family conflicts.

The author uses a qualitative approach to explore the research questions. The first part of the empirical research undertakes an ethnographical approach in carrying out the unobstructed participant observation within five European coworking spaces targeted at improving comprehension of the spaces’ mediation mechanisms and development of supportive interactions. The second part traverses into conducting unstructured interviews with parents who work on a flexible basis and use a coworking space as their daily workplace.

This research paper reveals that flexible workers who found themselves juggling work tasks and family obligations tend to seek better conditions that assist them in tackling conflictual situations and, in addition, enhance their social lives to create further career opportunities. Coworking spaces are thus perceived as optimal workplaces by working parents in that they can find stability and scale their social networks within. Moreover, the continually evolving user interactions resulting from effective mediation mechanisms let these individuals find emotional support, increase productivity and exchange knowledge.

While the coworking industry is rapidly evolving and the academia is keener on investigating the field, the subcategory of work–life and family care within these collaborative environments is virtually unresearched. This paper provides valuable insight into the topic and serves as a knowledge base for the future exploration of this field.

The purpose of this study is to examine the expectations of parents working on a flexible basis using coworking facilities to overcome work-family conflict and to maintain work-life balance.

A qualitative approach is employed to analyze data collected between 2014 and 2017 as part of an ongoing longitudinal study through participant observation in five small to medium coworking spaces from four European countries. In addition, unstructured face- to- face interviews are conducted with seven females and five males using coworking spaces and their responses analyzed using thematic content analysis.

The results suggest that flexible workers who have to combine the demands of family life with meeting work goals look for working conditions that will help them resolve conflict, bolster their social lives, and help with career progression. In addition, mediation mechanisms are used in coworking spaces to deal with work-family conflict building a community that offers support.

Therefore, managers of coworking spaces should consider feedback from uses as to their needs and preferences, spatial planning to increase social and professional interaction and initiate mediation mechanisms to increase trust and collaboration.

This paper has an original approach by providing an insight into an under researched topic and providing a knowledge base for future researchers.

In this paper, I explore what shapes the identities of digital nomads (DNs), a class of remote workers who travel and work concurrently. Through extensive fieldwork and interviews with 50 digital nomads conducted in seven coworking hostels in Mexico in 2022, I construct a theory of DN identity. I base this upon the frequent transformations they undergo in their Circumstances, which regularly change their worker identity.

DNs relinquish traditional social determinants of identity, such as nationality and religion. They define their personal identities by their passions and interests, which are influenced by the people they meet. DNs exist in inherently transitive social spaces and, without rigid social roles to fulfil, they represent themselves authentically. They form close relationships with other long-term travellers to combat loneliness and homesickness. Digital nomads define their worker identities around their location independence. This study shows that DNs value their nomadic lifestyle above promotions and financial gain. They define themselves by productivity and professionalism to ensure the sustainability of their lifestyle. Furthermore, digital nomad coworking hubs serve focused, individual work, leaving workplace politics and strict ‘office image’ norms behind. Without fixed social and professional roles to play, digital nomads define themselves personally according to their ever-evolving passions and the sustainability of their nomadic life. Based on these findings, I present a cyclical framework for DN identity evolution which demonstrates how relational, logistical, and socio-personal flux evolves DN’s worker identities.