Where Does the Time Go? A Diary Approach to Business and Marketing Students’ Time Use

Abstract

What are students doing with their time? Existing research mostly has focused on time used for study and/or work in relation to academic outcomes. This study uses a diary approach to explore business and marketing students’ time use encompassing all student activities, not just study or work. A clustering procedure resulted in two meaningful groups, campus-centered students (CCS) and life-centered students (LCS), that were similar in terms of students’ ability, gender, race, age, and so on but differed in that CCS worked fewer hours and spent more time studying, watching TV, and in entertainment than LCS. Perhaps most importantly, CCS achieved higher semester and cumulative grade point averages and perceived academic performance than LCS. Strategies are offered for faculty and administrators in terms of course and program design and delivery, including online and Web-assisted courses, syllabi that assist students in propitious time-management choices, chunking, personalization, and required time-use diaries.