The Key To Happiness In Collaborative Workplaces. Evidence From Coworking Spaces

Abstract

This quantitative study explores some significant psychological and behavioral dynamics in coworking spaces, an increasingly popular type of work organization especially among freelancers, professionals and entrepreneurs. We collected data from a sample of 175 people working in coworking spaces and we found that a more cooperative organizational climate increases the workers' happiness. We also found that such relationship is positively moderated by several job crafting behaviors. In other words, when workers experience work proactively they are more likely to benefit from the potential advantages (resources, challenges, networking opportunities, etc) that cooperation-oriented work settings provide, which, in turn, amplifies the positive effect of cooperative work settings on individual happiness. These findings represent a useful contribution for both the sparse literature on coworking spaces, and on the more general job crafting literature, as there are still very limited contributions on behavioral dynamics that are specific to coworking spaces, and on the role played by job crafting in influencing workers’ happiness as well.