Bănuță, Andrei (2023) The world is flat after all. Master thesis.
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S5382084 Master thesis The world is flat after all Andrei Banuta.pdf Download (3MB) | Preview |
Abstract
This master’s thesis investigates the emergence of alternative work concepts that focus on flexibility and how they affect employed individuals and their ability to share knowledge with others. The concepts of home office (“working from home”) and shared offices (“co-working spaces”) emerged as alternatives to standard on-site office work in the late 2010s and early 2020s due to prospects of increased flexibility, reduced costs and positive health effects, such as improvements in well-being (“social health”) (Robelski & Keller, 2019; Nappi & Eddial, 2021; Săvescu, et al., 2022; Brouwer & Mariotti, 2023). The master thesis investigated these expectations and the impact of alternative work concepts on productivity, communication and tacit knowledge transfers, which have only been recently studied in academic literature. The master thesis used a qualitative research method that included an academic literature review and semi-structured interviews with employed individuals working at home as well as in shared offices in Bucharest, Romania. The master thesis revealed that work settings, including home and shared offices, are more suitable for Romanian employees than standard office work due to their positive experiences, quick adaptation, and financial benefits outweighing the costs. The results of the semi-structured interviews confirmed the findings in the academic literature that including home and shared offices in professional life could improve the work-life balance, productivity, job satisfaction and well-being of employed individuals. Although home and shared offices enhance communication and collaboration, the study found that Romanian employees prefer on-site knowledge transfers because they better understand the newly acquired knowledge when meeting co-workers in person. Overall, the study concludes that a combined home and shared office concept is the most suitable for employed individuals in Bucharest, Romania, as the benefits of each concept can compensate for the challenges of the other concept. However, tacit knowledge transfers can be better conducted on-site than over the Internet.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
|---|---|
| Degree programme: | Economic Geography |
| Supervisor: | Brouwer, A.E. |
| Date Deposited: | 14 Jul 2023 12:15 |
| Last Modified: | 14 Jul 2023 12:58 |
| URI: | https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/4255 |
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