The social workspace of tomorrow

Abstract: Background: Coworking is an office-environment where you share a common space with other companies and entrepreneurs, it encourage to cooperation and social interaction. The concept has grown the past few years and this way of working is mainly appreciated among small businesses and entrepreneurs. Coworking as a workspace concept is a new phenomenon which makes existing research limited. Therefore this study hopes to fill some existing information gaps concerning Coworking. Purpose: The purpose with this report is to contribute with more knowledge to the subject and identify the most common target groups using Coworking in the area of Stockholm. The research also seeks to compare thoughts with Coworking-operators and their members, to find out if this new concept is a trend or something that will prevail. Method: Both a qualitative and a quantitative research approach has been used to obtain the results. The methods used are semi-structured interviews with five Coworking-operators and a survey with closed questions addressed to members of the workspaces. By using both qualitative and quantitative methods, called triangulation, it enhances the reliability and validity of the study. Delimitation: The study is limited geographical to Stockholm city. Results and conclusion: Both members and operators within Coworking have a positive attitude towards these types of offices. They feel that the environment increases their productivity and their social contact. It is widely spoken about the network and its importance for Coworking, but from the results members value location and interior standard higher. Future studies: It would be interesting to make a similar study in a few years when the market is more established and see if the operators think different about Coworking. Studies that compare Coworking members with workers who use more traditional office spaces are also of interest in order to see how they look at productivity and office space, and the connection between them.