Conference Presentation

1. Social Support in
Coworking Spaces
Cornelia Gerdenitsch!
Julia Andorfer
Tabea Scheel
Christian Korunka

2. 2
Population!
Reference: deskmag.com

3. • Unaffiliated flexible professionals: freelancers,
remote/nomadic workers, digital nomads (Pohler, 2012)
• New ways of working workforce (Demerouti et al., 2014)
• Central obstacle: isolation (Bailey & Kurland, 2002; Taha &
Caldwell, 1993)
3

4. • Unaffiliated flexible professionals: freelancers,
remote/nomadic workers, digital nomads (Pohler, 2012)
• New ways of working workforce (Demerouti et al., 2014)
• Central obstacle: isolation (Bailey & Kurland, 2002; Taha &
Caldwell, 1993)
➡ Coworking Spaces: collaborative space, activities for
community building, a social structure, social interactions
(Garrett, Spreitzer & Bacevice, 2014)
4

5. 5
„Gree%ng
a
coworker
or
talk
about
the
weekend“ „A
coworker
asked
me
to
help
in
a
short
brain-­‐
storming“
„A
coworker
and
I
worked
together
on
a
website.“
Social Interactions

6. • Casual conversations…
• …obtaining feedback, share ideas, or collaborate (Spinuzzi,
2012)
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
➡ Social interactions in a Coworking Space can take
the form of social support
6
„Gree%ng
a
coworker
or
talk
about
the
weekend“ „A
coworker
asked
me
to
help
in
a
short
brain-­‐
storming“
„A
coworker
and
I
worked
together
on
a
website.“
Social Interactions

7. !
!
!
• Social support emerges from the social environment
(Hobfoll, 2002) with a sender who provides support aiming to
help the person receiving support (House, 1981)
!
• source of social support in the working context:
colleagues, supervisors, coworkers?
7
How does receiving social support
influence coworkers?
Social Interactions

8. Social Support
Hypothesis 1: Social support will be positively related to
satisfaction with performance.
• Main effect model of social support found support
(e.g., Viswerean, 1999)
—> social support from colleagues relates positively
to performance (Osca, 2005; Brauch-Feldman, 2002)
• Professional isolation diminishing performance
(Golden, Veiga, & Dino, 2008)
!
• heterogenous business backgrounds
8
Satisfaction
with Performance

9. • Conservation of Resources Theory (Hobfoll 1989, 2002)
- Ressource gain process (COR theory, Hobfoll, 2002)
—> existence of resources facilitates the
development of other resources
9
Social Support
Satisfaction
with Performance
Self-efficacy
Hypothesis 2: Self-efficacy will partly mediate the relation
between social support and satisfaction with performance.

10. • Conservation of Resources Theory
- Ressource gain process (COR theory, Hobfoll, 2002):
existence of resources facilitates the development
of other resources
- Under threatening conditions - potential resource
lost - investing resources (Hobfoll, 2011)
10
Social Support
Satisfaction
with Performance
Self-efficacy
Hypothesis 3: Time pressure will moderate the effect of social support on self-
efficacy such that the effect will be stronger when time pressure is high.
Hypothesis 4: Time pressure will moderate the mediating effect of self-
efficacy on the relation between social support and satisfaction.
Time
Pressure

11. Cross-sectional online
study with 154 Coworkers
consistent with Foertsch, 2012;
N=1532
software/web
development
and design
52 spaces, 37 cities!
102 male, 52 female
Mean age = 39 (SD = 8.45)
79% university degree
main reason - engaging in
social interaction (83%)
11

12. • Work-related social support scale (alpha = .80; Frese, 1989)
• Stress-related job analysis (alpha = .81; ISTA; Semmer, Zapf,
Dunckel, 1989)
• Generalized self-efficacy scale (alpha = .79; Schwarzer &
Jerusalem, 1995)
• Satisfaction with performance (2 self-developed items)
Focus Group
Discussion to check
adequacy
12
Survey
SektorFive

13. β = .21*
ΔR2 = .04, ΔF = 6.80, p = .010
Controlled for Age, Gender, Tenure
13
Hypothesis 1
Social Support
Satisfaction
with Performance
Results

14. 14
Hypothesis 1
Hypothesis 2
β = .21*
Social Support
Satisfaction
with Performance
Self-efficacy
path a: p = .197
path b: p = .062
path c’: p = .017
bootstrapping: 95% [-.003, .082] !
Controlled for Age, Gender, Tenure
Results

15. β = .17*
Simple slope analysis (Aiken & West, 1991)
high: b = .28***; medium: b = .11***; low: b = -.07*
Controlled for Age, Gender, Tenure15
Hypothesis 1
Hypothesis 2
Hypothesis 3
Social Support
Satisfaction
with Performance
Self-efficacy
Time
Pressure
-1,5
-1
-0,5
0
0,5
1
1,5
Low Social Support High Social Support
Results

16. high levels of time pressure [.007, .130]
low levels of time pressure [-.058, .003]
90% confidence interval
Controlled for Age, Gender, Tenure16
Hypothesis 1
Hypothesis 2
Hypothesis 3
Hypothesis 4
β = .21*
Social Support
Satisfaction
with Performance
Self-efficacy
Time
Pressure
β = .17*
Results

17. Coworkers represent a source of social support for
independent professionals
—> social support has to be activated
!
Beneficial effect when time pressure is high but NOT
when time pressure is low…
- focus on problems
- low time pressure - slow business
17
Discussion

18. Strengths: one of the first study about an emerging
working environment/concept; as we controlled for
gender, age, and tenure generalize results
!
!
Limitation: Cross-sectional design; social support is
present - theoretical assumption
!
!
Future research: Different forms of social interaction,
motives to engage in social interactions; comparing with
traditional source of social support
18
Discussion

19. Practical Implications: Coworking
spaces should provide circumstances
that facilitate/activate social support
19
Discussion
- specialization of spaces
- displays with currently present
coworkers (Bilandzic, Schroeter & Forth, 2013)
Swarm

20. !
!
Practical Implications: Coworking
spaces should provide circumstances
that facilitate/activate social support
20
Discussion
- specialization of spaces
- displays with currently present
coworkers (Bilandzic, Schroeter & Forth, 2013)
Swarm
Coworking Spaces = a resourceful environment for a
specific target group with coworkers as possible source
of social support

21. questions - questions
- questions
!
@cgerden
21
cornelia.gerdenitsch@
univie.ac.at