What Do We Know about Co-Working Spaces? Trends and Challenges Ahead

Jasmina Berbegal-Mirabent

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 3, 1-30

Abstract: Co-working spaces (CWSs) have emerged as a distinctive phenomenon in the sharing economy. They are collaborative environments that feed innovation and creativity under the slogan “working alone together”. While policy makers and scholars were optimistic about their role in promoting entrepreneurial endeavours and fostering growth, the spread of the COVID-19 across the world has drastically changed the way we work, communicate, and navigate daily life. This study offers a comprehensive review of the existing literature on CWSs. To do so, a bibliometric analysis is proposed, combining the use of traditional bibliometric tools with science mapping techniques. A total of 118 documents are reviewed and the results are presented at two different levels: (1) descriptive analysis of the status of the research on a CWS and (2) its conceptual structure (topics and trends). The study concludes with some directions for future research. Specifically, based on the recurrent topics discussed up to date in the literature, it is possible to identify four key areas—i.e., geographical location, physical space, business models and inclusive communities—that are promising for research and that may bring useful insights for defining co-working’s place in a post-pandemic society.

Keywords: co-working; trends; literature review; bibliometrics; sharing economy; pandemic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1416/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1416/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1416-:d:489761

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().