Determinants of Employee Victory in Telecommuting Labor Disputes: A Configurational Approach
研究基于中国2020年287份远程办公劳动争议判决，运用模糊集定性比较分析，发现员工胜诉取决于资源与制度因素的特定组合，而非单一因素。
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.