Searching for creativity in innovative working contexts. The role of embeddedness in collaborative spaces

Collaborative spaces (coworking spaces, fab-lab, incubators) may represent a resource for those creative workers who strive to find a meaningful work environment to sustain their professional identity. This paper aims to investigate the role of creative workers’ embeddedness in collaborative spaces, exploring whether the perception of being embedded in the space community positively impacts their creativity. The study is based on a quantitative research carried out among 117 coworkers from collaborative spaces in Emilia Romagna. Findings suggest that, while collaborative spaces are designed as the epitome of new creative work settings, creative workers perceive higher levels of creativity only when they perceive fit with the space community, develop links with coworkers, and perceive sacrifice in leaving the collaborative space. Results contribute to the existing literature on the determinants of creativity and the search for meaningfulness in creative and innovative work contexts.