Coworking environments and digital nomadism: balancing work and leisure whilst on the move

Abstract

ABSTRACTIndividuals in the creative sector often pursue the idea of the location-independent style of living and working (Müller, A. 2016. The digital nomad: Buzzword or research category? Transnational Social Review, 6(3), 344–348). Digital nomads represent a modern “knowmad” society (Moravec, J. W. 2013. Knowmad society: The “new” work and education. On the Horizon, 21(2), 79–83), whose boundaries between leisure, travel, and work appear blurred (Reichenberger, I. 2018. Digital nomads–a quest for holistic freedom in work and leisure. Annals of Leisure Research, 21(3), 364–380). This new type of fluid workforce tends to merge itself with the selected geographic area or environment for a brief period of time, and by that utilizing its logistic and digital infrastructure to maintain an individualized lifestyle (Richards, G. 2015. The new global nomads: Youth travel in a globalizing world. Tourism Recreation Research, 40(3), 340–352). Digital nomadism has brought upon a new form of creative tourism (Putra, G. B., & Agirachman, F. A. 2016. Urban coworking space: Creative tourism in digital nomads perspective. In Proceedings of Arte-Polis 6 International Conference (pp. 169–178)) that emancipates the involvement of individuals in the creative life of the destination and interaction with local communities by exchanging skill sets and ideas in a synergetic way (Richards, G., & Marques, L. 2012. Exploring creative tourism: Editors Iintroduction. Journal of Tourism Consumption and Practice Volume, 4(2), 1–11) by frequently using local coworking spaces. However, the motivational factors behind the usage of local coworking spaces remain unclear, as do the benefits offered by these flexible office environments. This paper thus investigates the popularization of digital nomadism and the influence of the digital nomad lifestyle on the work-leisure balance that appears to be affected by the use of coworking spaces.