Working Alone Together

TLDR

Mobile professionals increasingly choose coworking spaces—open‑plan offices where they work alongside other unaffiliated professionals for about $250 a month—as an alternative to traditional offices, executive suites, or home offices. The study seeks to identify the service purchased with the monthly fee, how users describe it, and its activity‑theory components (object, outcome, actors). A 20‑month study provides answers to these questions.

Abstract

Mobile professionals can choose to work in offices, executive suites, home offices, or other spaces. But some have instead chosen to work at coworking spaces: open-plan office environments in which they work alongside other unaffiliated professionals for a fee of approximately $250 a month. But what service are they actually purchasing with that monthly fee? How do they describe that service? From an activity theory perspective, what are its object, outcome, and actors? This article reports on a 20-month study that answers such questions.