Determinants of Employee Victory in Telecommuting Labor Disputes: A Configurational Approach

Abstract

The rapid expansion of telecommuting during the COVID-19 pandemic created novel disputes over remote-work conditions that existing laws did not clearly regulate. This study investigates the configurational determinants of employee victory in these disputes. Drawing on resource-based and institutional theories of litigation outcomes, we propose an analytical framework comprising three categories of determinants: employee resources (income, tenure, and legal representation), employer resources (enterprise size and maturity), and institutional factors (dispute type and government policy invocation). Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) on 287 first-instance telecommuting labor-dispute judgments from China in 2020, we identify five equifinal pathways to employee success. These pathways reveal that no single factor guarantees victory; instead, success depends on specific synergies, such as high-income employees leveraging policy support in individual disputes or long-tenured employees utilizing collective action against strong enterprises. These findings offer a configurational perspective on how resources and institutional factors jointly shape remote-work litigation outcomes.