21063: Coworking Spaces: Catalysts of Workplace Revolution and Organizational Evolution

This symposium delves into the relevance, mechanisms, and transformative potential of coworking spaces. These shared work environments, equipped with essential infrastructure, attract individuals, start-ups, and established firms, serving as hubs for knowledge exchange, entrepreneurial activities, as well as innovation. By fostering collaboration mainly through physical co-presence, coworking spaces align with the open innovation paradigm while emphasizing community dynamics over organizational boundaries. Unlike incubation centers, coworking spaces cultivate vibrant ecosystems that facilitate resource sharing, knowledge exchange, and entrepreneurial opportunity recognition through collective reflection and inspiration. However, they also pose competitive risks such as opportunistic behavior, highlighting a need for maintaining a delicate balance between collaboration and competition. Despite their growing prominence, scholarly exploration of coworking spaces remains still limited. This panel symposium aims to advance the understanding of coworking spaces as catalysts for entrepreneurial activities and organizational change. By critically examining how various types of coworking spaces shape cooperation, entrepreneurial activities, and transformative processes, the symposium will explore their role in balancing the complexities of shared value creation and competition.