Symmetric Analysis of Factors Affecting Freelance Workers in the Context of OECD Member Countries

This research examines the effects of digital infrastructure/services and certain economic factors on creating favorable conditions for freelancers. The research was carried out in view of the growing interest in new forms of work as digitalization is reflected in the socio-economic structure. The study covers 28 OECD countries from a variety of variables-number of freelancers (NSEP), cost of living (CLM), co-working spaces (NCS), average broadband speed (ABS) and prices (ABP), average mobile speed (AMS) and the resulting freelancing score (FS)-and different databases. Symmetric (PLS-SEM) analysis was conducted to determine the level of influence of causal conditions on the outcome. According to the findings of the study, in the first phase, the explanatory power of the causal conditions for the freelance score was 90.4%. The effects of ABP and CLM on FS were significant and negative. ABS, AMS, AS, NCS and NSEP have significant and positive effects on FS. According to the importance performance map, NSEP has the largest effect on FS, while ABS is the fastest performing variable. The research helps freelancers to make their career planning in OECD countries by determining the most favorable conditions for freelancers.