Hybrid Models in Teleworking and Online Education: Exploring Theoretical Perspectives and Digital Divide. A Systematic Literature Review and a Bibliometric Analysis

This article explores the manner in which teleworking and online education interact, outlining the challenges and opportunities spawned by these phenomena between years 2019 and 2023. The digitalisation processes have experienced an intense acceleration across various sectors during the Covid-19 pandemic, which compelled companies to adopt large-scale teleworking and educational institutions to transition to online schooling. Teleworking brought benefits such as increased flexibility and has reduced or eliminated commuting time, however research shows that unclear boundaries between professional and personal life can lead to stress and burnout. Moreover, online education has facilitated access to digital resources and enabled individualised learning paces, but it has also exposed major difficulties, among which unequal access to technology, limited in-person interaction and a decrease in student motivation. Families in which parents work from home while children take online classes illustrate this overlap of roles and the concurrent use of the same technological resources, generating time management challenges and productivity issues. This article employs a systematic literature review and a bibliometric analysis to emphasize the exponential increase of this topic in research since 2020. The key findings underline the importance of investing in digital infrastructure and IT competencies, as well as the need for clear public and organisational policies to protect employees’ rights and to promote equity in access to education. Recommendations target policymakers, managers, educators and also parents, with an emphasis on the need for cooperation to promote a supportive environment for both remote work and online education. Ultimately, the paper proposes future research directions, including international comparative and qualitative investigations, as well as prospecting the emerging technologies.