Qualitative Research Methods for the Exploration of Coworking Environments

Authors

Marko Orel PhD, University of Economics, PragueFollow
Manuel Mayerhoffer, University of Economics, PragueFollow

Abstract

Coworking is a flexible workspace arrangement that is characterized by the sharing of resources, socializing between peers, collaborating on mutual projects, and co-crafting a community of work. As a result of the benefits coworkers draw from their experience, the coworking model has grown significantly over the past years, which has also led to increasing attention by scholars. When researching the contemporary workplace's evolving nature, a qualitative approach enables scholars to observe, record, and capture the changing attitudes concerning a given subject. Similarly, field researchers have applied qualitative methods with gradually increasing rigor and complexity. To further enhance future studies, the paper highlights key development patterns and best practices from a review of selected qualitative studies of the past years to draw conclusions for future research practices and the most suitable qualitative research methods for the examination of coworking environments. Finally, the paper discusses advisable qualitative methodological frameworks.

Keywords

coworking, collaborative workspaces, workspace research, qualitative research

Author Bio(s)

Marko Orel holds a Ph.D. degree from University of Ljubljana in sociology and works as an assistant professor specialising in the exploration of the changing nature of the global workplace development of on-site and digital collaborative communities. By building his work on qualitative research, he explores project and operational networks of influences, community engagement, and inter-relational participation within collaborative workspaces. Marko recently published several papers on coworking environments that are relevant to the submitted manuscript, namely in Journal of Corporate Real-Estate, World Leisure Journal and Journal of Global Responsibility. He is currently employed at the University of Economics in Prague, Czech Republic. Please direct correspondence to marko.orel@vse.cz.

Manuel Mayerhoffer is a doctoral candidate at the University of Economics, currently focusing on the concept of coworking and cross-cultural management at the Department of Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Business Administration. Since 2018, he is appointed as associate lecturer at Prague College, School of Business, in the Czech Republic. Prior to the doctoral studies, he received his M.Sc. in International Management from Teesside University, and his B.A. in Business Administration (Dual Studies) from Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University in Germany. Please direct correspondence to maym03@vse.cz.

Publication Date

5-3-2021

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2021.4673

Recommended APA Citation

Orel, M., & Mayerhoffer, M. (2021). Qualitative Research Methods for the Exploration of Coworking Environments. The Qualitative Report, 26(5), 1364-1382. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2021.4673

ORCID ID

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1931-7310