Creative Freelancers' Needs for Workspace, Networking and Internationalization
Hanhijärvi, Anniina (2012)
Hanhijärvi, Anniina
Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulu
2012
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2012121719830
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2012121719830
Tiivistelmä
deClub, the commissioner of this thesis, is a network of creative freelancers and entre-preneurs who work in a shared office. deClub provides the shared office to work, and possibilities to network and share ideas with like-minded creative professionals. The offices in different countries also enable international networking. The purpose of this thesis was to get more information about the needs of creative freelancers in Helsinki and Breda, where deClub has offices at the moment, regarding workspace, networking and internationalization.
The research was conducted as a quantitative research by sending an online question-naire to a portion of creative freelancers in the aforementioned cities. The results were then used for the analysis and conclusions were made based on the acquired results. The results were divided into four sections: background information, the need for work-space, the need for networking and the need for internationalization.
According to the results some respondents prefer working from home but there is also a need for workspaces. It became apparent that especially women and respondents in the younger age groups were interested in a more flexible work place option. The respond-ents found network of like-minded people, meeting space for clients and the location of the office to be the most important things in a shared office.
The majority of the respondents showed interest towards professional networks, and more than half were already a part of a professional network or interested in becoming part of one. People who were already part of some professional networks felt that they had received the help they needed through the networks.
Little more than half of the respondents feel the need to become more internationally oriented and they also use international resources when seeking for help or information. Almost half of the respondents had also been working in an international company prior to their freelancing career and some of the respondents had taken part in international conferences.
The received information gave interesting results. The information acquired from this research can be used as a guideline for deClub in decision making, but due to the rela-tively low response rate, it may not give an entirely accurate picture of the target group.
The research was conducted as a quantitative research by sending an online question-naire to a portion of creative freelancers in the aforementioned cities. The results were then used for the analysis and conclusions were made based on the acquired results. The results were divided into four sections: background information, the need for work-space, the need for networking and the need for internationalization.
According to the results some respondents prefer working from home but there is also a need for workspaces. It became apparent that especially women and respondents in the younger age groups were interested in a more flexible work place option. The respond-ents found network of like-minded people, meeting space for clients and the location of the office to be the most important things in a shared office.
The majority of the respondents showed interest towards professional networks, and more than half were already a part of a professional network or interested in becoming part of one. People who were already part of some professional networks felt that they had received the help they needed through the networks.
Little more than half of the respondents feel the need to become more internationally oriented and they also use international resources when seeking for help or information. Almost half of the respondents had also been working in an international company prior to their freelancing career and some of the respondents had taken part in international conferences.
The received information gave interesting results. The information acquired from this research can be used as a guideline for deClub in decision making, but due to the rela-tively low response rate, it may not give an entirely accurate picture of the target group.