ABSTRACT
Innovation, technology, and venturing increasingly flourish in the emerging institutional settings of shared workspaces and makerspaces, which grant their users/members high autonomy while providing opportunities for multiplex social exchange within the space and using first- and second-order linkages to other organizations within an ecosystem. Previous research has individually analyzed coworking-spaces, makerspaces, and ecosystems. As these elements are connected, the current study develops the concept of coworking ecosystems. Our qualitative study examines the institutionalization of coworking ecosystems by micro-level (institutionalized socialization and connected resources), meso-level (community-focused coordination and industrial value co-creation), and macro-level processes (emerging ecosystem and increasing legitimacy of coworking).
