Open Creativity: Increased Creativity Due to Network Relationships in Coworking Environments

Positing that creativity is bolstered by greater levels of social relations with external agents, that arise through weak ties termed “open creativity,†we sought to advance knowledge of this process in coworking environments by placing emphasis on creativity as a phenomenon prior to innovation. In such an environment, creativity is then expanded through network relationships, through four increasing levels of interaction with external agents. In this qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive research, undertaken through the investigation of multiple cases, primary data were collected by observation and semi-structured interviews of users from three coworking environments located in a city in a developing country in Latin America. Open creativity emerges from the coworking environment’s characteristics and the actions and activities undertaken by users at the different levels of the establishment of open creativity. The implications of these findings for academics and managers are discussed.