Hybrid Teaching and Its Effect on Work-Life Balance of Women Teaching Faculties in Colleges: Evidence from Madurai District

Abstract

This study examines how hybrid teaching affects the work-life balance (WLB) of female faculty in Indian higher education using empirical results from the Madurai District of Tamil Nadu. This study is based on the assumptions of the work-family conflict theory and the Job Demands Resources (JD-R) model, which conceptualises hybrid teaching as a dual-force phenomenon that escalates job demands while simultaneously offering institutional and technological resources that affect the well-being of the faculty. The research conducted reliability testing, exploratory factor analysis, correlation, multiple regression, and mediation tests on a structured survey of 412 women faculty in 32 colleges to test the suggested model. It has been found that the negative contribution of hybrid workload to WLB is significant ( = -0.22, p < 0.001), but institutional support ( = 0.52, p < 0.001) and digital infrastructure ( = 0.47, p < 0.001) positively influence it. Workload was partially related to WLB through psychological well-being (indirect effect = 0.16, p < 0.001). The model describes 52 percent of the WLB variance. This emphasises the importance of organizational and psychological resources in determining balance. The findings point to the need for gender-sensitive institutional processes, such as workload rationalisation, trustful digital infrastructure, and mental health programs that could minimise work–family conflict and reinforce academic resilience. Future studies must use both longitudinal and comparative designs so that the changing models of hybrid education can be studied in as many respects as possible in terms of faculty well-being in relation to changing institutional types, regions, and gender identities.