Digital Pedagogy in the Mediterranean: Beyond the "Resistance" Narrative: A Quantitative Pilot on the Acceptance of Hybrid Models

Digital transformation in Southern European higher education is frequently described through a narrative of cultural “resistance” to online education. This study challenges that interpretation by quantitatively examining faculty acceptance of hybrid teaching models in the Mediterranean context. Building on prior qualitative work that identified opposition to top-down European digital policies, the analysis adopts a sequential theory-testing design. It combines a historical baseline from the SOULSS faculty survey (Spain and Portugal; N = 255), which documented strong post-pandemic reversion to face-to-face teaching, with a targeted diagnostic probe conducted in 2025 (N = 16) focusing specifically on hybrid model effectiveness. Results reveal a marked shift: while fully online teaching remains contested, hybrid models receive high effectiveness ratings (mean = 3.9/5), with the majority of respondents expressing positive evaluations. These findings suggest that the so-called “Mediterranean resistance” is not technophobia, but a rejection of disembodied online instruction. Faculty appear pragmatically open to digital innovation when it augments, rather than replaces, the physical classroom, with institutional regulations—rather than attitudes—emerging as the primary barrier to implementation.