COLLABORATIVE WORK SPACES, DIVERSITY, AND REGIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP GROWTH : A Conceptual Review
(2025) p.274-292- Abstract
This chapter examines the relationship between the diversity of membership and features of Collaborative Work Spaces (CWS) and the growth of regional entrepreneurship. CWS have grown remarkably over the past decades and, alongside a suite of other forums for interaction between entrepreneurial actors (such as meetups and accelerators), have become notable features of entrepreneurial ecosystems. CWS and accelerator programmes have often been supported as part of strategies to stimulate local entrepreneurial ecosystems, and thus have attracted funding support from policy makers and from philanthropic and civic organizations in many places around the world. This support relies on the notion that CWS are knowledge sharing environments that... (More)
This chapter examines the relationship between the diversity of membership and features of Collaborative Work Spaces (CWS) and the growth of regional entrepreneurship. CWS have grown remarkably over the past decades and, alongside a suite of other forums for interaction between entrepreneurial actors (such as meetups and accelerators), have become notable features of entrepreneurial ecosystems. CWS and accelerator programmes have often been supported as part of strategies to stimulate local entrepreneurial ecosystems, and thus have attracted funding support from policy makers and from philanthropic and civic organizations in many places around the world. This support relies on the notion that CWS are knowledge sharing environments that can stimulate entrepreneurial activity, but these assertions are rarely supported by a parsimonious theoretical account of how they function. In this chapter we describe explanatory mechanisms through which CWS contribute towards entrepreneurial outcomes by way of a recent literature on microgeography, diversity, proximity, and entrepreneurship, by conceptualizing CWS as entrepreneurial microclusters. We outline a theoretical model of CWS through a set of empirically testable propositions that includes explanatory mechanisms and predicts the effects of their composition and location on local entrepreneurial outcomes.
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- author
- Waters-Lynch, Julian and Tavassoli, Sam LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025-07-22
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- collaborative work spaces, coworking, diversity, entrepreneurial ecosystems, entrepreneurship, proximity
- host publication
- The Oxford Handbook of Spatial Diversity and Business Economics
- pages
- 19 pages
- publisher
- Oxford University Press
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105019281787
- ISBN
- 9780191898396
- 9780198866190
- DOI
- 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198866190.013.0015
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © The several contributors 2025. The moral rights of the authors have been asserted. All rights reserved.
- id
- b97addb4-7605-4618-9405-7f90cef627b7
- date added to LUP
- 2025-12-19 11:13:23
- date last changed
- 2025-12-19 11:14:17
@inbook{b97addb4-7605-4618-9405-7f90cef627b7,
abstract = {{<p>This chapter examines the relationship between the diversity of membership and features of Collaborative Work Spaces (CWS) and the growth of regional entrepreneurship. CWS have grown remarkably over the past decades and, alongside a suite of other forums for interaction between entrepreneurial actors (such as meetups and accelerators), have become notable features of entrepreneurial ecosystems. CWS and accelerator programmes have often been supported as part of strategies to stimulate local entrepreneurial ecosystems, and thus have attracted funding support from policy makers and from philanthropic and civic organizations in many places around the world. This support relies on the notion that CWS are knowledge sharing environments that can stimulate entrepreneurial activity, but these assertions are rarely supported by a parsimonious theoretical account of how they function. In this chapter we describe explanatory mechanisms through which CWS contribute towards entrepreneurial outcomes by way of a recent literature on microgeography, diversity, proximity, and entrepreneurship, by conceptualizing CWS as entrepreneurial microclusters. We outline a theoretical model of CWS through a set of empirically testable propositions that includes explanatory mechanisms and predicts the effects of their composition and location on local entrepreneurial outcomes.</p>}},
author = {{Waters-Lynch, Julian and Tavassoli, Sam}},
booktitle = {{The Oxford Handbook of Spatial Diversity and Business Economics}},
isbn = {{9780191898396}},
keywords = {{collaborative work spaces; coworking; diversity; entrepreneurial ecosystems; entrepreneurship; proximity}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{07}},
pages = {{274--292}},
publisher = {{Oxford University Press}},
title = {{COLLABORATIVE WORK SPACES, DIVERSITY, AND REGIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP GROWTH : A Conceptual Review}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198866190.013.0015}},
doi = {{10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198866190.013.0015}},
year = {{2025}},
}