Coworking spaces as sites of organizing: A literature review and a research agenda

Coworking spaces are membership-based, shared work environments involving individuals from multiple occupational backgrounds. They have emerged in recent years as a phenomenon that reconciles broader changes in the world of work. Within this context, coworking spaces have mostly been interpreted as settings that convey a sense of community. However, recent studies have tried to move beyond this community-related reading of coworking, instead focusing on their organizational character. Indeed, coworking spaces hold the potential to shape professionals’ work activities and practices while feeding collective action and co-orientation. Drawing on these insights, this study reviews 87 publications from multiple disciplines to shed light on how coworking spaces emerge as sites of organizing for professionals who are not formally connected to one another. It does so by suggesting five dimensions that articulate the organizational character of coworking spaces – i.e., ‘materiality’, ‘temporality’, ‘affect’, ‘identity’, ‘formalization’. The study concludes with a future research agenda.