This research addresses the question of what are the key factors influencing the Thai consumer's decision to use workspace in Bangkok. The results showed that location of coworking space, extra service areas and social interaction have a positive relationship with the Thai consumer's intention to use coworking space in Bangkok. Consequently, the co-working space emerged to serve the new way of working (Spinuzzi, 2012).
Additionally, some coworking spaces in Thailand also expand their coworking space to new locations in order to capture new target customers. Therefore, it is important for the coworking space owner to create a competitive advantage over competitors by understanding the key factors that influence customers to use coworking space in Bangkok.
Research Questions
Research Objectives
Scope of Study
Expected Benefits
LITERATURE REVIEW
- The concept of Coworking Space
- Working Alone Together: Coworking as Emergent Collaborative Activity
- Evolution of Co-Working Places: Drivers And Possibilities
- MARCO Promoting Social Interactions on Coworking Spaces with Artificial Intelligence
In addition, co-working space provides the community of work that the consumer can share the information, knowledge and other resources necessary for innovation and creativity. According to (Rus & Orel, 2015), the study suggested that the co-working spaces that create a strong sense of community of work can attract more highly motivated people and facilitate sharing. If the co-working space cannot create a sense of community, they will have trouble establishing a sharing culture and will instead provide office space by reducing their co-working space.
Therefore, in the early years, the coworking space also became a hybrid space, combining serviced offices and coworking space together, as shown below in Figure 2.2 (Waters-Lynch, Potts, Butcher, Dodson, & Hurley, 2016). In this article, the author intends to find the definition of coworking, the target consumer and the results that colleagues expect from a coworking space. The result showed that coworking spaces can be defined in different perspectives, such as coworking as a social space, coworking as a space, coworking as a cheap alternative office.
The research pointed out that the successful coworking space concepts should provide an attractive physical and virtual working environment and the social intelligence for the users, which can increase customer satisfaction and productivity. In addition, coworking spaces should consider the payment per user by creating a membership structure and making full use of space resources, which can create a sustainable approach and efficient space in the long term (Kojo & Nenonen, 2014). Currently, the coworking space tries to build a community in their space by participating in the specific segments, because working with a sense of belonging can increase productivity, creative output and well-being.
However, from the owner's point of view, the co-working space is the place where it can form the community and can contribute to social innovation (Torres, 2016).
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
- Conceptual Framework
- Research Design
- Population and Sample size
- Data Collection
Second, this research applies the quantitative approach using questionnaire evaluation with factor analysis which enables the researcher to conduct the survey on a larger number of participants. For in-depth interview, the researcher used the open-ended questions, and the sample size of the in-depth interview is 6 respondents who are the owner and manager of coworking space in Bangkok. Moreover, the research population for questionnaire approach is Thai people who have used workspace in Bangkok in the past month.
These respondents have experience using coworking space, so they can provide the correct answers to the survey questions. The study conducted the closed-ended questionnaire using the online survey method and distributed it to the respondents through social networks. The questionnaire is divided into five parts: introductory questions, screening questions, general questions, specific questions and demographic questions.
The screening question will only select the target who has used Coworking Space in Bangkok during the last month. Demographic question will collect background information about the respondents, including gender, age, occupation, level of education and income. The online questionnaire will be distributed via social networks and the total number of respondents was approximately 100.
In addition, this research will analyze the data using SPSS software using the Explanatory Factor Analysis (EFA) method to develop hypotheses and will use descriptive analysis, multiple regression analysis.
RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Research Finding of In-depth Interview
- The target customers and target customer needs
- The unique selling points of coworking space
- Marketing strategies of coworking space business
- Problems and difficulties in coworking space business
- Suggestion for coworking space business in Bangkok
For the customers' preferences, the primary need of colleague is a workspace that can support their work productivity. Moreover, the customers want to build a relationship between colleagues to create a strong network and can exchange the knowledge and idea with others. For the unique selling points, each of the coworking spaces has its own characteristics and unique selling point to differentiate from other coworking spaces.
Some respondents focus on the atmosphere of the coworking space because they could work in such a comfortable atmosphere that would create the most productive work. For the marketing strategies, most respondents use social media and social networks to promote their coworking space such as website, Facebook Fanpage and Instagram to increase cost-effectiveness. Regarding the problem in coworking space, most of the respondents faced some problems such as building a community in coworking space. Therefore, they usually organize an event or a small meeting to build the relationship between the colleagues.
The customer has more options. Therefore, owners need to offer customers more choices in areas, such as a conference room or serviced office, to attract traffic, create customer rotation and generate more revenue. For the suggestion, the owner of a coworking space must know and understand its purpose in order to meet the needs of the right people. Moreover, it would be better for the coworking space to divide the best part of the area or space on the coworking area, meeting room or rental office to use the space in the most efficient way and thus generate more income.
For example, working at coworking space can generate more efficient work, be part of a community, and develop new skills from workshop along with generating new ideas for his or her business.
Research Finding of Survey
- Demographic of respondents’ information
- General Information of respondents
- Rotated Component Matrix
- Hypotheses Summary
The total variance explained table showed that there are five factors that influence Thai consumers' intention to use co-working space in Bangkok. In addition, the scene plot also illustrated that there are five important factors that influence Thai consumers' intention to use the workspace in Bangkok. Question 29: I prefer to use the co-working space because it is a place where I can build relationships between colleagues.
Question 28: I prefer to use coworking spaces that offer events/workshops to enhance the sense of community in the coworking space. Even the price of coworking space is more expensive than coffee shop, I will still use coworking space. According to the rotated component matrix of Table 4.5, there are five columns representing the factors that influence Thai consumers' intention to use coworking space in Bangkok.
The first dimension is the set of statements about 'service attributes': concerns about the atmosphere in coworking spaces that have a relaxed atmosphere and can help consumers increase productivity and generate new ideas, and concerns about the high quality of the facilities and the variety of packages. The second dimension could be called 'Social Interaction': focus on the relationship between colleagues, community in coworking space and knowledge sharing. The fourth dimension is not a concern about price and is considered 'non-price sensitivity', consisting of: even the price of coworking space is more expensive than that of a coffee shop, I will still use coworking space and I even give preference to use co-working space is not a promotion or discount.
Therefore, these four factors positively influence Thai consumers' intention to use a coworking space in Bangkok. Regarding the factor analysis using the multiple regression method, there are four independent variables including social interaction, location, non-price sensitivity and additional service areas that are related to the dependent variable, which is the intention to use a coworking space in Bangkok. H1: Service characteristics of a coworking space have a positive effect on Thai consumers' intention to use a coworking space.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusion
Recommendations
Not only the freelancer and the business owner, but also the private employee who can become the main customers, because the co-working spaces can be differentiated by targeting that new potential. Additionally, the co-working space should build a community by creating an internal event and small meeting to strengthen the sense of community and build relationships between colleagues. Having a strong community can increase the willingness to help each other among colleagues in order to increase work productivity.
Therefore, when it starts with a good relationship with each other or a friendly environment, customers tend to visit and spend time in the workspace more often. For marketing strategies, coworking space in Bangkok should ensure that the location supports the objective. Attractive co-working space should be located near the source of food, such as convenient stores and restaurants, as well as close to shopping malls or business centers.
However, considering the price, it would not be effective to use pricing strategy to attract customers as most of the customers are not price sensitive but they are concerned about whether it is value for money. Thus, providing sufficient, good facilities and additional service areas such as relaxation area, coffee corner or garden would make customers more satisfied and better value for money.
Limitation and Suggestions for Future Research
For future research, it would be better to conduct the information from the non-users of coworking space to find out the barrier by using the in-depth interview or the focus group. In addition, the future research should collect more sample sizes to get a wider perspective in different segmentations, such as the group of the group of employees and the group of freelancers and business owners, as well as to expand the research scope to include the users of coworking space in other part of Thailand.
APPENDICES
Appendix A: In-Depth Interview Questions for Owner
- Overview
- Strategy
- Future Plan
- Screening Question
- General Questions
- Specific Questions
- Demographic Questions Q32: Please indicate your gender
The purpose of this survey is to investigate the factors that influence the Thai consumer's intention to use Coworking Space in Bangkok. Please rate each statement about the extent to which you agree about factors influencing consumer's decision in Bangkok to use Coworking Space on a scale below:. agree or disagree with each of the following statements. Q12: I would prefer to use coworking spaces that have attractive fees compared to other coworking spaces.
Question 13: Even the price of the co-working space is more expensive than a coffee shop, I will still use the co-working space.
