• Remote work adoption in Jakarta differs across sectors and urban locations. • Digital readiness alone does not ensure effective or sustainable outcomes. • Informal supports and leadership often outperform formal regulations. • Spatial inequalities challenge assumptions of central urban readiness. • Two improvement pathways emerge: structured maturity vs pragmatic access. Managerial perspectives on remote work remain underexplored in developing megacities where digital capacity, sectoral structure, and spatial inequality shape implementation outcomes. Drawing on survey data from 203 managers across organizations in the Greater Jakarta metropolitan region, this study employed Multiple Correspondence Analysis and descriptive comparisons to assess how sector, company type, and location influence remote work effectiveness. The findings reveal that while digitally intensive sectors report a strong alignment with productivity and well-being, several physically intensive sectors—such as agriculture and healthcare—demonstrate unexpected success in adaptive practices and employee-centered leadership. In contrast, despite high digital readiness, the private service sector shows stagnation, driven by cultural rigidity and client-facing demands. Spatially, firms in peripheral areas with long commuting distances and stronger digital infrastructure are more likely to expand remote work, whereas organizations in central business districts report weaker outcomes because of their hierarchical structures and reliance on in-person workflows. Notably, the presence of formal regulations is not a reliable predictor of success; organizations with informal support mechanisms, such as flexible scheduling, wellness initiatives, and management training, tend to perform better. These findings suggest that, in developing cities, remote work success depends not only on digital tools but also on organizational adaptability, spatial context, and leadership behavior.
AISYAH et al. (2026) studied this question.