The development of ICTs has significantly contributed to transforming traditional workplaces and work practices; indeed it is increasingly frequent that organizations allow their employees to work remotely, i.e. at a distance from the...
moreThe development of ICTs has significantly contributed to transforming traditional workplaces and work practices; indeed it is increasingly frequent that organizations allow their employees to work remotely, i.e. at a distance from the office and generally to freely choose where (places) and when (time) to carry out the assigned activities (spatio-temporal flexibility). This resulted in a growing interest showed in last decades both from academics and practitioners towards different typologies of remote work arrangements, including telework, homework, mobile work, virtual teams and more recently smart work. Furthermore, over the last few years both private and public managers has started to acknowledge the potential advantages offered to employees and organizations by a new form of remote work arrangements and a new workplace, namely the "Smart Work Center" (SWC). It refers to a shared and collaborative space where the main users, i.e. public and private employees of different organizations, can flexibly access and work outside organizational boundaries taking advantage from the availability of a variety of communication and collaboration services (e.g. computers, printers, fax, internet access) next to additional services (e.g. conference rooms, recreational facilities).
In order to advance the current knowledge about SWCs, the authors aim at providing a comprehensive conceptualization of these collaborative workspaces so as to build a solid ground for future theory development, empirical investigation and policy development.
