Taking Time to Integrate Temporal Research

TLDR

Research on time in organizations spans multiple disciplines and introduces a wide range of concepts. The study aims to uncover an underlying structure that clarifies the current state of temporal research. The authors develop a framework that details intricacies, interrelationships, and assumptions among three categories of temporal variables, and then use it to compare studies and generate propositions for temporal fit. The framework identifies three variable categories—conceptions of time, mapping activities to time, and actors relating to time—and, through comparative analysis, yields propositions to advance the notion of temporal fit.

Abstract

Research on time in organizations spans disciplines and introduces a wide range of concepts. Here we set out to find an underlying structure to clarify the current state of temporal research. Our examination yields three categories of variables: conceptions of time, mapping activities to time, and actors relating to time. We elaborate intricacies within each category, interrelationships among categories, and assumptions made in each category about the others. We then use the framework to compare existing studies and generate propositions to develop the notion of temporal fit.