From research: How has COVID changed life in coworking spaces?

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly transformed coworking spaces. The study of OREL, MAYERHOFFER, and CHYTKOVÁ (2024) published in the European Management Journal explores how the shift from traditional, community-focused workspaces to hybrid environments, blending physical and digital interactions, impacts user productivity, well-being, and community engagement. The methodological novelty in this paper lies in its use of the Gioia methodology as a systematic inductive approach, providing a structured, detailed process for data analysis and theory building from interview, ethnographic and autoethnographic data in the context of coworking spaces and disruption behind the recent pandemic.

The findings reveal that although the digitalisation of coworking processes does not necessarily bring positive outcomes for users, implementing effective virtual environments can provide greater flexibility, maintain the balance between well-being and productivity, and connect entrepreneurial environments across regional and national boundaries.

Find more details about the transition towards a hybrid model that combines digital and physical presence to sustain community-oriented atmospheres and further support users’ well-being and productivity at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0263237323001457?via%3Dihub