Taboo Trade-Offs in the Community Business: The Case of Coworking

The past 15 years has seen the rise of businesses that seek to sell community as a service. Relational Models Theory provides a compelling theoretical framework that suggests the prospect of selling or buying community may be prone to evoking cognitive, affective, and behavioral aversion among both...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of management inquiry Vol. 33; no. 1; pp. 77 - 91
Main Authors Bennis, Will M., Orel, Marko
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.01.2024
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Relational Models Theory
taboo trade-offs
community management
coworking
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Summary:The past 15 years has seen the rise of businesses that seek to sell community as a service. Relational Models Theory provides a compelling theoretical framework that suggests the prospect of selling or buying community may be prone to evoking cognitive, affective, and behavioral aversion among both sides in the exchange. This paper considers the coworking industry—a paradigmatic example of a business that promises to sell community—through the lens of Relational Models Theory. We use our personal experience as coworking space owners and community managers to explore challenges and conflicts that we, other community managers, and our members have encountered that may be inherent to trying to buy and sell community. Finally, we suggest tentative solutions to those challenges.
ISSN:1056-4926
1552-6542
DOI:10.1177/10564926231187292