Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Community, Work and Family, 2026 (ESCI, Scopus)
This study investigates the impact of remote working on employees in Istanbul–Turkey’s sole global city–compared to other metropolitan centres, focusing on perceived productivity, job satisfaction, commitment, work-life balance, and support for remote working. The research addresses the critical problem of spatial friction in remote working outcomes within a developing economy characterised by extreme urban primacy and the highest regional inequality among OECD countries. Using a sequential explanatory mixed-methods approach, initial quantitative data were gathered from an online survey of 441 remote workers (2023), followed by 18 semi-structured interviews (2024). Findings indicate significant disparities in the experience and perception of remote working contingent on urban scale. Istanbul-based workers reported higher job satisfaction and commitment, largely driven by a significant commute dividend and superior digital infrastructure. Conversely, while workers in smaller cities noted benefits like improved focus, they faced challenges regarding professional isolation and limited career networks. Overall, the study underscores the complex relationship between remote working outcomes and urban dynamics, broadly confirming that global cities remain the psychological and professional centres of gravity in the remote work era. These findings contribute to the literature on the spatial dynamics of remote working and offer implications for geographically sensitive organisational policies.