Collaboration in Coworking Spaces: Impact on Firm Innovativeness and Business Models

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the debate as to whether collaboration in coworking spaces contributes to firm innovativeness and impacts the business models of organizations in a positive manner. Methodology: This paper includes primary data from 75 organizations in 17 coworking spaces and uses quantitative research methods. The methodology includes multiple statistical methods, such as principal component analysis, correlation analysis as well as linear and binary regression analysis. Results: The results show a positive interrelation between collaboration and innovation, indicating that coworkers are able to improve their innovative capabilities by making use of strategic partnerships in coworking spaces. Further, this study shows that business models are significantly affected by the level of collaboration in coworking spaces, which suggests that coworking is a promoting force for business model development or business model innovation. Contributions: The paper contributes to management literature and represents the first empirical investigations which focuses on the effects of collaboration on a firm-level in coworking spaces. Practical implications: The results indicate that organizations in coworking spaces should embrace a collaborative mindset and should actively seek out collaborative alliances and partnerships, as doing such is shown to increase their innovativeness and/or develop their business model. Future Research: Future research should focus on the antecedents of collaboration or could investigate the effects of collaboration in coworking spaces on a community level.