Shadows and light: navigating teachers’ time poverty and blended teaching acceptance with social support and job satisfaction in EFL teachers’ voyage

These findings highlight job satisfaction as a pivotal psychological mechanism through which time-related stressors affect pedagogical innovation. The complex role of social support-being facilitative in some pathways yet detrimental in others-underscores the importance of evaluating not only the presence but also the alignment and perceived utility of support systems in educational settings. For university-level EFL teachers navigating digital transformation under high workload pressures, context-sensitive and needs-matched support strategies are essential. This study contributes to the literature by clarifying the interactive dynamics among time poverty, job satisfaction, social support, and blended teaching acceptance, and offers practical implications for the design of more effective teacher support mechanisms in the era of educational innovation.