@channel: Hey community! A qualitative case study about the construction of a digital community in a co-working space

Sammanfattning

This study aims to examine employees' perception at co-working space Hetch regarding their digital communication efforts on the computer-mediated communication platform Slack to foster a sense of community amongst the members. This topic is relevant to the field of strategic communication because understanding how to communicate on a computer-mediated platform is essential to further building a sense of community within an organization. There is a gap in the research regarding the use of professional digital communication tools such as Slack and the difference between digital versus physical community, which the study explores. Our research questions were How do the employees at Hetch perceive their way of communicating digitally to create a sense of community? and How do the employees at Hetch perceive the relationship between their digital communication and face-to-face communication when fostering a sense of community?. To answer these research questions, a qualitative case study was conducted using qualitative content analysis and interviews. The study takes the ontological standpoint of social constructivism as well as the epistemological belief of hermeneutics. This research indicates a discrepancy in the perception of the employee's communication based on the factors of creating a sense of community. However, the employees are aware of their limitations. The employees were conflicted regarding the relationship between digital communities and if they replace physical communities entirely. The relationship is complex due to them being communicatively dependent on one another. These findings are significant because they give insights into the real-life experiences of communicating on digital platforms to foster a sense of community.