A coworking space (CWS) is a place where coworkers can share knowledge and learn from each other while working together in a workplace. In the phase of establishing corporate real estate strategies, CWS has become one of way to structure the workplace. Despite the growing interest, there is still little understanding of the motivations and requirements of coworkers who use CWS. The aim of this study is to address the limitations of existing literature by confirming that the importance of the physical environment and the community manager has been underestimated in existing literature. This study adopted servicescape theory as a theoretical lens. A questionnaire was developed to gather data, based on a literature review about servicescape. The purpose of this study is to investigate the improvement strategy of CWS, the role of the community manager, and to explore evidence of policy for the entrepreneurial ecosystem using the lens of servicescape theory. A total of 301 responses from an online survey were collected and analysed using an Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA). This study refutes the existing literature that mainly focusses on the social environment of CWS. This study suggests that the physical environment has more impact than the social environment, in contrast to existing literature. The physical environment was found to be more important than the social environment. Furthermore, CWS should reconsider the roles of community managers, as coworkers do not believe they are important. This study provides useful implications for CWS and the entrepreneurial ecosystem. This is theoretically meaningful by applying the servicescape theory to find the needs of coworkers. In a practical way, it provides ideas for creating strategies for CWS, as well as supporting policies for the entrepreneurial ecosystem. CWS can increase the convenience of coworkers in the workplace by referring to the results of this study. Also, this study developed servicescape items and questionnaires for CWS through a literature review. This study provides evidence on servicescape improvement strategies and discusses the role of a community manager. Furthermore, this study will help in the development of CWS and the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Kim et al. (Thu,) studied this question.