ABSTRACT The uses and gratifications approach is used to examine chatbot acceptance in coworking spaces, identifying how coworkers perceive the technology and may use it to facilitate their tasks. To do so, potential influence factors shaping technology acceptance are explored, and a sample of 101 German coworkers is employed to confirm the framework drawing on a quantitative combination of partial least squares structural equation modeling and necessary condition analysis. Instrumental and non-instrumental gratifications, as well as social norm, influence chatbot acceptance in the form of sufficient and necessary conditions, and social norm appears to have a more substantial impact than hedonic factors in terms of sufficiency. However, social norm is not a necessary condition. A moderator analysis reveals that privacy concerns, age and gender do not affect individuals’ intention to use a chatbot. Coworking space providers thus benefit from establishing a standard chatbot solution to leverage social norm, and the chosen solution needs to fulfill hedonic expectations in addition to being useful. Software vendors may also integrate dedicated interfaces to powerful solutions such as ChatGPT.