Higher education teacher well-being: an integrative review

Background Higher education (HE) teachers face unique professional challenges that impact their well-being, including increases in consumer-oriented practices, tensions between research and teaching, and demanding student relationships. Despite growing interest in teacher well-being, existing reviews have focused primarily on schoolteachers or, at HE-level, on general academic staff. They have also prioritised a focus on negative outcomes such as stress and burnout.Purpose To respond to these shortcomings, this integrative literature review aimed to conceptualise higher education teacher well-being (HETWB) and to identify the job and personal factors influencing it. It used the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory as a guiding conceptual framework.Method A systematic search of four databases (Education Collection, Scopus, EBSCOhost, PsycINFO) was conducted in December 2024, covering peer-reviewed empirical studies published between 2000 and 2024. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 41 studies were selected for analysis. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis, with conceptualisations and antecedents of HETWB coded and categorised.Findings Conceptualisations were categorised into six research fields: workplace well-being; teacher well-being; subjective well-being; psychological well-being; human flourishing; and mental well-being. The findings identified several job demands and resources that influenced HETWB, emphasising the importance of relationships with colleagues and students. Personal resources, such as psychological capital and emotional regulation strategies, were also identified as influencing factors.Conclusion The review underscores the conceptual diversity and complexity of HETWB and the multifaceted factors that influence it. It calls for clearer definitions of HETWB, including the integration of pedagogical perspectives, and for more robust and diverse research designs and methods to capture it. The findings offer valuable insights for researchers, educators and institutions aiming to promote well-being among HE teachers.