Customer Work Practices and the Productive Third Place

Third places—communal or socializing places such as coffee shops—are confronted with a rising customer segment: customers who use them for work. Prior research is divided on this trend: customer-workers are seen either source of added value major threat to third places. Relying multimethod, qualitative study, we investigate the strategic implications rise in We extend prior by considering new and valuable segment, its specific motivations practices. Building co-constitution practices places, show that customer-worker segment has fostered market differentiation. identify four types (archetypal, status quo, compromise, productive) depending their targeting strategy servicescape adaptation. delineate how transform places’ proposition bring challenges each type. Specifically, quo most prone conflicts while compromise generate managerial struggles. In contrast, productive adapt become work accelerators professional identity customer-workers. provide recommendations managers overcome benefit from growing base.