Should We Teach in Hybrid Mode or Fully Online? A Theory and Empirical Investigation on the Service–profit Chain in MBAs

• Should we teach in hybrid or fully online mode to maximize programs’ reputation? • Faculty members’ satisfaction and the MBA program expectations improve MBA WOM. • Pathways: MBA quality, MBA value, class satisfaction, and MBA loyalty. • Hybrid is a stronger reinforcing mode of these effects chain than the fully online. • IT creates differential business value being integrated into a hybrid teaching model. Should we teach in hybrid mode or fully online? We examine the teaching model's role (hybrid versus fully online) in the service–profit chain in higher education institutions using survey data from 93 faculty members and 366 students from three American universities. We find that faculty members’ satisfaction and the MBA program expectations improve MBA word-of-mouth by enhancing the MBA quality, MBA value, class satisfaction, and MBA loyalty. Additionally, we discover that the hybrid teaching model more strongly reinforces this chain of effects than the fully online model. IT creates the integration of differential value into a hybrid teaching style.