Virtually Extended Coworking Spaces? -- The Reinforcement of Social Proximity, Motivation and Knowledge Sharing Through ICT

Abstract: Coworking is characterized by different people sharing a workspace to benefit from the inspiring working atmosphere. Even before Covid-19, many positive effects and dynamics were not fully exploited by their users. One reason is a lack of trust among the users that leads to social isolation, although a coworking space should increase knowledge and idea exchange. As most people in coworking spaces use information and communication technologies (ICT) for their collaboration with their clients or employers, we examined if and how ICT can be used to support the positive effects and dynamics of coworking spaces. For this, we conducted eight interviews with freelancers and entrepreneurs who have already worked in coworking spaces in order to identify requirements for a complementary virtual coworking platform. We found that social proximity, motivation and knowledge sharing could be increased by such a platform. Based on the process virtualization theory, we derived six design principles.