Reconceptualizing management control? Between productivity gains and career concerns in corporate coworking

Abstract This study investigates the trade-off between perceived productivity gains and career concerns under consideration of new ways of management control in corporate coworking, where teams are deployed to coworking spaces to foster innovation. Employing a methodological triangulation, we combine a principal-agent-based mathematical model with a qualitative multi-case study of eight corporate coworking teams, drawing on 31 semi-structured interviews with employees and employers. Our findings show that teams in coworking spaces perceive productivity gains driven by increased motivation, creativity, and team collaboration facilitated by physical proximity and co-discipline. At the same time, these environments lower barriers for external career networking, thereby increasing the perceived risk of employee turnover. To navigate this trade-off, employers must adjust traditional management control mechanisms to fit the corporate coworking context. In addition to personnel selection and incremental output monitoring, cultural control, role modeling, and fostering an intrapreneurial mindset emerge as key levers to affect the employees’ behavior respectively. By integrating theoretical modeling with empirical evidence, this study contributes to the literature on management control and extends the emerging discourse on corporate coworking. For practitioners, it offers actionable insights into selecting suitable employees for coworking environments and balancing autonomy with appropriate control. Ultimately, our work highlights the nuanced dynamics of corporate coworking and provides strategies to leverage its innovation potential while mitigating career-related mobility risks.