Remote Work Research: A Comparative Analysis Pre- and Post-Covid-19

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a shift to remote work on an unprecedented scale, prompting the need to understand the challenges and opportunities associated with this new work paradigm. This paper focuses on both pre-pandemic (2014-2018) and post-pandemic (2019-2023) eras to identify core constructs and emerging trends. A systematic review approach was employed, utilizing keyword and term co-occurrence analyses to analyze articles retrieved from the Scopus database. The selection criteria adhered to the PRISMA Statement guidelines, ensuring comprehensive coverage of relevant literature. A total of 49 articles from the pre-pandemic era and 69 articles from the post-pandemic era were included in the analysis. Additionally, bibliometric analysis using VOS viewer was performed to explore patterns and characteristics of scholarly publications within the field of remote work research. Our analysis revealed that while pre-pandemic research emphasized communication, trust, leadership, and performance in virtual teams, the post-pandemic research focus on well-being, work-life balance, job engagement, and team bonding. This study sheds light on how the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped remote work research priorities, identifying new themes, and informing future directions in this dynamic field.