Entrepreneurial Orientation in Coworking Spaces for Corporate Entrepreneurship and Venturing

Abstract

Firms search for new ways of improving their innovativeness and internal entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurial orientation has been shown to be a powerful facilitator for these tasks. Previous research has shown that entrepreneurial orientation increases by empowerment and proper leadership, yet we know little about the spaces in which it proliferates. We argue that social interaction and autonomy, as prevalent in coworking-spaces, strengthens and complements entrepreneurial orientation. Following the literature on entrepreneurial orientation, as well as coworking-spaces, we pursue a multiple case study analysis. We find that the elements of entrepreneurial orientation as outset by previous studies does not fully describe the entrepreneurial orientation in corporate coworking-spaces. Our findings stress that corporate entrepreneurship research and practice needs to pay more attention to the spatial and interior settings for improving innovativeness and internal entrepreneurship.