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College Students’ Time Management: a Self-Regulated Learning Perspective

  • Review Article
  • Published: 27 October 2020
  • Volume 33 , pages 1319–1351, ( 2021 )

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quantitative research about students time management

  • Christopher A. Wolters   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8406-038X 1 &
  • Anna C. Brady 1  

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Despite its recognized importance for academic success, much of the research investigating time management has proceeded without regard to a comprehensive theoretical model for understanding its connections to students’ engagement, learning, or achievement. Our central argument is that self-regulated learning provides the rich conceptual framework necessary for understanding college students’ time management and for guiding research examining its relationship to their academic success. We advance this larger purpose through four major sections. We begin by describing work supporting the significance of time management within post-secondary contexts. Next, we review the limited empirical findings linking time management and the motivational and strategic processes viewed as central to self-regulated learning. We then evaluate conceptual ties between time management and processes critical to the forethought, performance, and post-performance phases of self-regulated learning. Finally, we discuss commonalities in the antecedents and contextual determinants of self-regulated learning and time management. Throughout these sections, we identify avenues of research that would contribute to a greater understanding of time management and its fit within the framework of self-regulated learning. Together, these efforts demonstrate that time management is a significant self-regulatory process through which students actively manage when and for how long they engage in the activities deemed necessary for reaching their academic goals.

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Wolters, C.A., Brady, A.C. College Students’ Time Management: a Self-Regulated Learning Perspective. Educ Psychol Rev 33 , 1319–1351 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-020-09519-z

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Does time management work? A meta-analysis

1 Concordia University, Sir George Williams Campus, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Aïda Faber

2 FSA Ulaval, Laval University, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

Alexandra Panaccio

Associated data.

All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files.

Does time management work? We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the impact of time management on performance and well-being. Results show that time management is moderately related to job performance, academic achievement, and wellbeing. Time management also shows a moderate, negative relationship with distress. Interestingly, individual differences and contextual factors have a much weaker association with time management, with the notable exception of conscientiousness. The extremely weak correlation with gender was unexpected: women seem to manage time better than men, but the difference is very slight. Further, we found that the link between time management and job performance seems to increase over the years: time management is more likely to get people a positive performance review at work today than in the early 1990s. The link between time management and gender, too, seems to intensify: women’s time management scores have been on the rise for the past few decades. We also note that time management seems to enhance wellbeing—in particular, life satisfaction—to a greater extent than it does performance. This challenges the common perception that time management first and foremost enhances work performance, and that wellbeing is simply a byproduct.

Introduction

Stand-up comedian George Carlin once quipped that in the future a “time machine will be built, but no one will have time to use it” [ 1 ]. Portentously, booksellers now carry one-minute bedtime stories for time-starved parents [ 2 ] and people increasingly speed-watch videos and speed-listen to audio books [ 3 – 5 ]. These behaviors are symptomatic of an increasingly harried society suffering from chronic time poverty [ 6 ]. Work is intensifying—in 1965 about 50% of workers took breaks; in 2003, less than 2% [ 7 ]. Leisure, too, is intensifying: people strive to consume music, social media, vacations, and other leisure activities ever more efficiently [ 8 – 11 ].

In this frantic context, time management is often touted as a panacea for time pressure. Media outlets routinely extol the virtues of time management. Employers, educators, parents, and politicians exhort employees, students, children, and citizens to embrace more efficient ways to use time [ 12 – 16 ]. In light of this, it is not surprising that from 1960 to 2008 the frequency of books mentioning time management shot up by more than 2,700% [ 17 ].

Time management is defined as “a form of decision making used by individuals to structure, protect, and adapt their time to changing conditions” [ 18 ]. This means time management, as it is generally portrayed in the literature, comprises three components: structuring, protecting, and adapting time. Well-established time management measures reflect these concepts. Structuring time, for instance, is captured in such items as “Do you have a daily routine which you follow?” and “Do your main activities during the day fit together in a structured way?” [ 19 ]. Protecting time is reflected in items such as “Do you often find yourself doing things which interfere with your schoolwork simply because you hate to say ‘No’ to people?” [ 20 ]. And adapting time to changing conditions is seen in such items as “Uses waiting time” and “Evaluates daily schedule” [ 21 ].

Research has, furthermore, addressed several important aspects of time management, such as its relationship with work-life balance [ 22 ], whether gender differences in time management ability develop in early childhood [ 23 ], and whether organizations that encourage employees to manage their time experience less stress and turnover [ 24 ]. Despite the phenomenal popularity of this topic, however, academic research has yet to address some fundamental questions [ 25 – 27 ].

A critical gap in time management research is the question of whether time management works [ 28 , 29 ]. For instance, studies on the relationship between time management and job performance reveal mixed findings [ 30 , 31 ]. Furthermore, scholars’ attempts to synthesize the literature have so far been qualitative, precluding a quantitative overall assessment [ 18 , 32 , 33 ]. To tackle this gap in our understanding of time management, we conducted a meta-analysis. In addressing the question of whether time management works, we first clarify the criteria for effectiveness. In line with previous reviews, we find that virtually all studies focus on two broad outcomes: performance and wellbeing [ 32 ].

Overall, results suggest that time management enhances job performance, academic achievement, and wellbeing. Interestingly, individual differences (e.g., gender, age) and contextual factors (e.g., job autonomy, workload) were much less related to time management ability, with the notable exception of personality and, in particular, conscientiousness. Furthermore, the link between time management and job performance seems to grow stronger over the years, perhaps reflecting the growing need to manage time in increasingly autonomous and flexible jobs [ 34 – 37 ].

Overall, our findings provide academics, policymakers, and the general audience with better information to assess the value of time management. This information is all the more useful amid the growing doubts about the effectiveness of time management [ 38 ]. We elaborate on the contributions and implications of our findings in the discussion section.

What does it mean to say that time management works?

In the din of current debates over productivity, reduced workweeks, and flexible hours, time management comes to the fore as a major talking point. Given its popularity, it would seem rather pointless to question its effectiveness. Indeed, time management’s effectiveness is often taken for granted, presumably because time management offers a seemingly logical solution to a lifestyle that increasingly requires coordination and prioritization skills [ 39 , 40 ].

Yet, popular media outlets increasingly voice concern and frustration over time management, reflecting at least part of the population’s growing disenchantment [ 38 ]. This questioning of time management practices is becoming more common among academics as well [ 41 ]. As some have noted, the issue is not just whether time management works. Rather, the question is whether the techniques championed by time management gurus can be actually counterproductive or even harmful [ 26 , 42 ]. Other scholars have raised concerns that time management may foster an individualistic, quantitative, profit-oriented view of time that perpetuates social inequalities [ 43 , 44 ]. For instance, time management manuals beguile readers with promises of boundless productivity that may not be accessible to women, whose disproportionate share in care work, such as tending to young children, may not fit with typically male-oriented time management advice [ 45 ]. Similarly, bestselling time management books at times offer advice that reinforce global inequities. Some manuals, for instance, recommend delegating trivial tasks to private virtual assistants, who often work out of developing countries for measly wages [ 46 ]. Furthermore, time management manuals often ascribe a financial value to time—the most famous time management adage is that time is money. But recent studies show that thinking of time as money leads to a slew of negative outcomes, including time pressure, stress, impatience, inability to enjoy the moment, unwillingness to help others, and less concern with the environment [ 47 – 51 ]. What’s more, the pressure induced by thinking of time as money may ultimately undermine psychological and physical health [ 52 ].

Concerns over ethics and safety notwithstanding, a more prosaic question researchers have grappled with is whether time management works. Countless general-audience books and training programs have claimed that time management improves people’s lives in many ways, such as boosting performance at work [ 53 – 55 ]. Initial academic forays into addressing this question challenged those claims: time management didn’t seem to improve job performance [ 29 , 30 ]. Studies used a variety of research approaches, running the gamut from lab experiments, field experiments, longitudinal studies, and cross-sectional surveys to experience sampling [ 28 , 56 – 58 ]. Such studies occasionally did find an association between time management and performance, but only in highly motivated workers [ 59 ]; instances establishing a more straightforward link with performance were comparatively rare [ 31 ]. Summarizing these insights, reviews of the literature concluded that the link between time management and job performance is unclear; the link with wellbeing, however, seemed more compelling although not conclusive [ 18 , 32 ].

It is interesting to note that scholars often assess the effectiveness time management by its ability to influence some aspect of performance, wellbeing, or both. In other words, the question of whether time management works comes down to asking whether time management influences performance and wellbeing. The link between time management and performance at work can be traced historically to scientific management [ 60 ]. Nevertheless, even though modern time management can be traced to scientific management in male-dominated work settings, a feminist reading of time management history reveals that our modern idea of time management also descends from female time management thinkers of the same era, such as Lillian Gilbreth, who wrote treatises on efficient household management [ 43 , 61 , 62 ]. As the link between work output and time efficiency became clearer, industrialists went to great lengths to encourage workers to use their time more rationally [ 63 – 65 ]. Over time, people have internalized a duty to be productive and now see time management as a personal responsibility at work [ 43 , 66 , 67 ]. The link between time management and academic performance can be traced to schools’ historical emphasis on punctuality and timeliness. In more recent decades, however, homework expectations have soared [ 68 ] and parents, especially well-educated ones, have been spending more time preparing children for increasingly competitive college admissions [ 69 , 70 ]. In this context, time management is seen as a necessary skill for students to thrive in an increasingly cut-throat academic world. Finally, the link between time management and wellbeing harks back to ancient scholars, who emphasized that organizing one’s time was necessary to a life well-lived [ 71 , 72 ]. More recently, empirical studies in the 1980s examined the effect of time management on depressive symptoms that often plague unemployed people [ 19 , 73 ]. Subsequent studies surmised that the effective use of time might prevent a host of ills, such as work-life conflict and job stress [ 22 , 74 ].

Overall, then, various studies have looked into the effectiveness of time management. Yet, individual studies remain narrow in scope and reviews of the literature offer only a qualitative—and often inconclusive—assessment. To provide a more quantifiable answer to the question of whether time management works, we performed a meta-analysis, the methods of which we outline in what follows.

Literature search and inclusion criteria

We performed a comprehensive search using the keywords “time management” across the EBSCO databases Academic Search Complete , Business Source Complete , Computers & Applied Sciences Complete , Gender Studies Database , MEDLINE , Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection , PsycINFO , SocINDEX , and Education Source . The search had no restrictions regarding country and year of publication and included peer-reviewed articles up to 2019. To enhance comprehensiveness, we also ran a forward search on the three main time management measures: the Time Management Behavior Scale [ 21 ], the Time Structure Questionnaire [ 19 ], and the Time Management Questionnaire [ 20 ]. (A forward search tracks all the papers that have cited a particular work. In our case the forward search located all the papers citing the three time management scales available on Web of Science .)

Time management measures typically capture three aspects of time management: structuring, protecting, and adapting time to changing conditions. Structuring refers to how people map their activities to time using a schedule, a planner, or other devices that represent time in a systematic way [ 75 – 77 ]. Protecting refers to how people set boundaries around their time to repel intruders [ 78 , 79 ]. Examples include people saying no to time-consuming requests from colleagues or friends as well as turning off one’s work phone during family dinners. Finally, adapting one’s time to changing conditions means, simply put, to be responsive and flexible with one’s time structure [ 80 , 81 ]. Furthermore, time management measures typically probe behaviors related to these three dimensions (e.g., using a schedule to structure one’s day, making use of downtime), although they sometimes also capture people’s attitudes (e.g., whether people feel in control of their time).

As shown in Fig 1 , the initial search yielded 10,933 hits, excluding duplicates.

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The search included no terms other than “time management” to afford the broadest possible coverage of time management correlates. Nevertheless, as shown in Table 1 , we focused exclusively on quantitative, empirical studies of time management in non-clinical samples. Successive rounds of screening, first by assessing paper titles and abstracts and then by perusing full-text articles, whittled down the number of eligible studies to 158 (see Fig 1 ).

Inclusion CriteriaExclusion Criteria
Study must contain a quantitative measure of time management (e.g., scale, survey, questionnaire) and/or feature a time management experiment with at least one control groupQualitative approaches (e.g., interviews, case studies)
Construct must be related to time management, such as time structure, time planning, scheduling, time management behaviors, time management practice, time management skills, and attitudes toward time managementTime-use studies (e.g., national time-use surveys, individual-level time-tracking studies), time perception studies, studies on non-personal time management (e.g., real-time management in supply chains), and time management studies focusing mainly on clinical samples (e.g., with chronic pain or ADHD)
Study must be about time management in relation to other variables (e.g., life satisfaction, stress, academic achievement)Studies focusing exclusively on time management (e.g., factor analyses)

Data extraction and coding

We extracted eligible effect sizes from the final pool of studies; effect sizes were mostly based on means and correlations. In our initial data extraction, we coded time management correlates using the exact variable names found in each paper. For instance, “work-life imbalance” was initially coded in those exact terms, rather than “work-life conflict.” Virtually all time management correlates we extracted fell under the category of performance and/or wellbeing. This pattern tallies with previous reviews of the literature [ 18 , 32 ]. A sizable number of variables also fell under the category of individual differences and contextual factors, such as age, personality, and job autonomy. After careful assessment of the extracted variables, we developed a coding scheme using a nested structure shown in Table 2 .

PerformanceWellbeingIndividual Differences
Professional SettingAcademic SettingPositive (wellbeing)Negative (distress)DemographicsPersonalityAttributes and AttitudesContextual Factors
Job SatisfactionEmotional ExhaustionAgeAgreeablenessInternal Locus of ControlJob Autonomy
Job performanceCreativityGPAProcrastination (reverse coded)Life SatisfactionStressGenderExtraversionType ARole Overload
Helping BehaviorStandardized TestsMotivationMental Health (positive)Work-life ConflictEducationConscientiousnessSelf-esteemTime Management Training
Job InvolvementTest ScoresOptimismAnxietyNumber of ChildrenNeuroticismProtestant Work Ethic
Procrastination (reverse coded)Physical health (positive)DepressionMarital StatusOpennessMultitasking
MotivationPositive affectPsychological DistressCognitive Ability
ProactivenessSelf-actualizationHopelessnessHours Worked
Sense of purposeBoredom
WellbeingNegative Affect
Worry
Physical Distress

Aeon and Aguinis suggested that time management influences performance, although the strength of that relationship may depend on how performance is defined [ 18 ]. Specifically, they proposed that time management may have a stronger impact on behaviors conducive to performance (e.g., motivation, proactiveness) compared to assessments of performance (e.g., supervisor rankings). For this reason, we distinguish between results- and behavior-based performance in our coding scheme, both in professional and academic settings. Furthermore, wellbeing indicators can be positive (e.g., life satisfaction) or negative (e.g., anxiety). We expect time management to influence these variables in opposite ways; it would thus make little sense to analyze them jointly. Accordingly, we differentiate between wellbeing (positive) and distress (negative).

In our second round of coding, we used the scheme shown in Table 2 to cluster together kindred variables. For instance, we grouped “work-life imbalance,” “work-life conflict” and “work-family conflict” under an overarching “work-life conflict” category. The authors reviewed each variable code and resolved rare discrepancies to ultimately agree on all coded variables. Note that certain variables, such as self-actualization, covered only one study (i.e., one effect size). While one or two effect sizes is not enough to conduct a meta-analysis, they can nonetheless be grouped with other effect sizes belonging to the same category (e.g., self-actualization and sense of purpose belong the broader category of overall wellbeing). For this reason, we included variables with one or two effect sizes for comprehensiveness.

Meta-analytic procedures

We conducted all meta-analyses following the variables and cluster of variables outlined in Table 2 . We opted to run all analyses with a random effects model. The alternative—a fixed effects model—assumes that all studies share a common true effect size (i.e., linking time management and a given outcome) which they approximate. This assumption is unrealistic because it implies that the factors influencing the effect size are the same in all studies [ 83 ]. In other words, a fixed effects model assumes that the factors affecting time management are similar across all studies—the fallacy underlying this assumption was the main theme of Aeon and Aguinis’s review [ 18 ]. To perform our analyses, we used Comprehensive Meta-Analysis v.3 [ 84 ], a program considered highly reliable and valid in various systematic assessments [ 85 , 86 ].

Meta-analyses do not typically perform calculations on correlations (e.g., Pearson’s r). Instead, we transformed correlations into Fisher’s z scales [ 83 ]. The transformation was done with z = 0.5 × ln ( 1 + r 1 − r ) , where r represents the correlation extracted from each individual study. The variance of Fisher’s Z was calculated as V z = 1 n − 3 where n corresponds to the study’s sample size; the standard error of Fisher’s Z was calculated as S E z = V z .

In many cases, studies reported how variables correlated with an overall time management score. In some cases, however, studies reported only correlations with discrete time management subscales (e.g., short-range planning, attitudes toward time, use of time management tools), leaving out the overall effect. In such cases, we averaged out the effect sizes of the subscales to compute a summary effect [ 83 ]. This was necessary not only because meta-analyses admit only one effect size per study, but also because our focus is on time management as a whole rather than on subscales. Similarly, when we analyzed the link between time management and a high-level cluster of variables (e.g., overall wellbeing rather than specific variables such as life satisfaction), there were studies with more than one relevant outcome (e.g., a study that captured both life satisfaction and job satisfaction). Again, because meta-analyses allow for only one effect size (i.e., variable) per study, we used the mean of different variables to compute an overall effect sizes in studies that featured more than one outcome [ 83 ].

Overall description of the literature

We analyzed 158 studies for a total number of 490 effect sizes. 21 studies explored performance in a professional context, 76 performance in an academic context, 30 investigated wellbeing (positive), and 58 distress. Interestingly, studies did not systematically report individual differences, as evidenced by the fact that only 21 studies reported correlations with age, and only between 10 and 15 studies measured personality (depending on the personality trait). Studies that measured contextual factors were fewer still—between 3 and 7 (depending on the contextual factor). These figures fit with Aeon and Aguinis’s observation that the time management literature often overlooks internal and external factors that can influence the way people manage time [ 18 ].

With one exception, we found no papers fitting our inclusion criteria before the mid-1980s. Publication trends also indicate an uptick in time management studies around the turn of the millennium, with an even higher number around the 2010s. This trend is consistent with the one Shipp and Cole identified, revealing a surge in time-related papers in organizational behavior around the end of the 1980s [ 87 ].

It is also interesting to note that the first modern time management books came out in the early 1970s, including the The Time Trap (1972), by Alec MacKenzie and How to Get Control of your Time and your Life (1973), by Alan Lakein. These books inspired early modern time management research [ 21 , 58 , 88 ]. It is thus very likely that the impetus for modern time management research came from popular practitioner manuals.

To assess potential bias in our sample of studies, we computed different estimates of publication bias (see Table 3 ). Overall, publication bias remains relatively low (see funnel plots in S1). Publication bias occurs when there is a bias against nonsignificant or even negative results because such results are seen as unsurprising and not counterintuitive. In this case, however, the fact that time management is generally expected to lead to positive outcomes offers an incentive to publish nonsignificant or negative results, which would be counterintuitive [ 89 ]. By the same token, the fact that some people feel that time management is ineffective [ 38 ] provides an incentive to publish papers that link time management with positive outcomes. In other words, opposite social expectations surrounding time management might reduce publication bias.

Job performanceAcademic achievementWellbeingDistress
3442,7356,4969,333
75309339364
B(0) = 2.76B(0) = 1.18B(0) = 0.31B(0) = -1.18
CI (95%) = (-.77; 6.28)CI (95%) = (-.36; 2.72)CI (95%) = (-.4.08; 4.69)CI (95%) = (-.3.31; 0.94)
> .05 > .05 > .05 > .05
1 study missing0 studies missing0 studies missing14 studies missing
New effect size = .188New effect size = .283

Finally, we note that the link between time management and virtually all outcomes studied is highly heterogeneous (as measured, for instance, by Cochran’s Q and Higgins & Thompson’s I 2 ; see tables below). This high level of heterogeneity suggests that future research should pay more attention to moderating factors (e.g., individual differences).

Time management and performance in professional settings

Overall, time management has a moderate impact on performance at work, with correlations hovering around r = .25. We distinguish between results-based and behavior-based performance. The former measures performance as an outcome (e.g., performance appraisals by supervisors) whereas the latter measures performance as behavioral contributions (e.g., motivation, job involvement). Time management seems related to both types of performance. Although the effect size for results-based performance is lower than that of behavior-based performance, moderation analysis reveals the difference is not significant (p > .05), challenging Aeon and Aguinis’s conclusions [ 18 ].

Interestingly, the link between time management and performance displays much less heterogeneity (see Q and I 2 statistics in Table 4 ) than the link between time management and other outcomes (see tables below). The studies we summarize in Table 4 include both experimental and non-experimental designs; they also use different time management measures. As such, we can discount, to a certain extent, the effect of methodological diversity. We can perhaps explain the lower heterogeneity by the fact that when people hold a full-time job, they usually are at a relatively stable stage in life. In school, by contrast, a constellation of factors (e.g., financial stability and marital status, to name a few) conspire to affect time management outcomes. Furthermore, work contexts are a typically more closed system than life in general. For this reason, fewer factors stand to disrupt the link between time management and job performance than that between time management and, say, life satisfaction. Corroborating this, note how, in Table 6 below, the link between time management and job satisfaction ( I 2 = 58.70) is much less heterogeneous than the one between time management and life satisfaction ( I 2 = 95.45).

VariablekNr95% CIQ(df) (SE)
213,9900.259 0.197–0.31877.32 (20)0.0160.00774.13
132,5320.221 0.144–0.29544.19 (12)0.0150.00972.84
132,4740.297 0.225–0.36540.56 (12)0.0130.00870.41
    Creativity12130.460 0.347–0.560----
    Helping behavior12540.160 0.038–0.278----
    Job involvement46170.207 0.129–0.2822.99 (3)00.0060
    Procrastination (reverse coded)21980.374 0.166–0.5501.61 (1)0.0120.04637.92
    Motivation47110.352 0.226–0.46710.12 (3)0.0140.01670.37
    Proactiveness38130.267 0.121–0.4018.81 (2)0.0140.01877.30

* p < .05

** p < .01

*** p < .001.

k = number of studies related to the variable | N = total sample size related to the variable.

r = effect size of the correlation between time management and the variable | 95% CI = confidence interval of the effect size.

Q = Cochran’s Q, a measure of between-study heterogeneity | τ 2 = measure of between-study variance | I 2 = alternative measure of between-study heterogeneity.

VariablekNr95% CIQ(df) (SE)
309,9050.313 0.244–0.380395.83 (29)0.0400.01492.67
    Job satisfaction112,8560.248 0.189–0.30524.21 (10)0.0060.00558.70
    Life satisfaction92,8550.426 0.273–0.558175.86 (8)0.0680.03895.45
    Mental health (positive)24730.556 0.349–0.7117.56 (1)0.0310.05186.77
    Optimism23300.305 0.108–0.4793.44 (1)0.0160.03270.94
    Physical health (positive)25670.293-0.002–0.54213.07 (1)0.0450.06892.35
    Positive affect52,7250.280 0.186–0.36818.73 (4)0.0100.01078.65
    Self-actualization13360.280 0.178–0.376----
    Sense of purpose15290.351 0.274–0.424----
    Wellbeing51,4470.219 0.092–0.33822.86 (4)0.0180.01682.50

Moreover, we note that the relationship between time management and job performance (see Fig 2 ) significantly increases over the years ( B = .0106, p < .01, Q model = 8.52(1), Q residual = 15.54(9), I 2 = 42.08, R 2 analog = .75).

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is pone.0245066.g002.jpg

Time management and performance in academic settings

Overall, the effect of time management on performance seems to be slightly higher in academic settings compared to work settings, although the magnitude of the effect remains moderate (see Table 5 ). Here again, we distinguish between results- and behavior-based performance. Time management’s impact on behavior-based performance seems much higher than on results-based performance—a much wider difference than the one we observed in professional settings. This suggests than results-based performance in academic settings depends less on time management than results-based performance in professional settings. This means that time management is more likely to get people a good performance review at work than a strong GPA in school.

VariablekNR95% CIQ(df) (SE)
7630,6050.262 0.223–0.300916.31 (75)0.0290.00791.81
6327,2250.196 0.160–0.232535.28 (62)0.0180.00588.41
    GPA5724,2700.213 0.178–0.247384.48 (56)0.0140.00485.43
    Standardized Tests76,2700.011-0.053–0.09433.35 (6)0.0070.00682.01
    Test Scores36030.228 0.151–0.3031.21 (2)00.0050
288,1860.430 0.365–0.490310.83 (27)0.0370.01391.31
    Procrastination (reverse coded)143,5580.490 0.399–0.572136.62 (13)0.0400.02090.48
    Motivation175,8050.381 0.302–0.454178.85 (16)0.0310.01391.05

In particular, time management seems to be much more negatively related to procrastination in school than at work. Although we cannot establish causation in all studies, we note that some of them featured experimental designs that established a causal effect of time management on reducing procrastination [ 90 ].

Interestingly, time management was linked to all types of results-based performance except for standardized tests. This is perhaps due to the fact that standardized tests tap more into fluid intelligence, a measure of intelligence independent of acquired knowledge [ 91 ]. GPA and regular exam scores, in contrast, tap more into crystallized intelligence, which depends mostly on accumulated knowledge. Time management can thus assist students in organizing their time to acquire the knowledge necessary to ace a regular exam; for standardized exams that depend less on knowledge and more on intelligence, however, time management may be less helpful. Evidence from other studies bears this out: middle school students’ IQ predicts standardized achievement tests scores better than self-control while self-control predicts report card grades better than IQ [ 92 ]. (For our purposes, we can use self-control as a very rough proxy for time management.) Relatedly, we found no significant relationship between time management and cognitive ability in our meta-analysis (see Table 8 ).

VariablekNr95% CIQ(df) (SE)
    Age217,5790.032-0.013–0.07670.42 (20)0.0070.00471.60
    Age (excluding children)196,8110.048 0.010–0.08640.71 (18)0.0040.00255.79
    Gender 3716,044-0.087 -0.129 | -0.045232.40 (36)0.0130.00584.51
    Education38080.019-0.050–0.0880.304 (2)00.0050
    Number of children39610.027-0.037–0.0900.247 (2)00.0040
    Marital status 39800.015-0.048–0.0780.548 (2)00.0030
    Agreeableness104,5620.169 0.091–0.24457.85 (9)0.0130.00884.43
    Extraversion135,3450.102 0.039–0.16459.05 (12)0.0100.00679.67
    Conscientiousness155,1590.451 0.326–0.561367.16 (14)0.0790.04196.18
    Neuroticism145,222-0.151 -0.229 | -0.07294.61 (13)0.0180.01086.26
    Openness114,7930.141 0.037–0.243124.17 (10)0.0280.01691.94
    Internal locus of control35790.346 0.269–0.4192.16 (2)00.0067.39
    Type A72,3880.110 0.017–0.20231.05 (6)0.0130.0980.67
    Self-esteem39470.346 0.225–0.4568.19 (2)0.0100.01475.58
    Protestant Work Ethic39980.026-0.036–0.0880.240 (2)00.0030
    Multitasking5932-0.088 -0.164 | -0.0105.53 (4)0.0020.00627.66
    Cognitive ability31,4840.015-0.064–0.0944.36 (2)0.0030.00554.11
    Hours spent studying63,1840.137 0.036–0.23530.08 (5)0.0120.01183.37
    Hours spent working83,682-0.042-0.159–0.07664.87 (7)0.0230.01989.21
    Job autonomy47510.101-0.060–0.2568.38 (3)0.0160.02264.23
    Role overload71,187-0.146 -0.284 | - 0.00326.59 (6)0.0250.02377.43
    Time management training38460.173 0.031–0.3095.92 (2)0.0100.01666.62

a Female = 1; Male = 2.

b Single = 1; Married = 2.

Time management and wellbeing

On the whole, time management has a slightly stronger impact on wellbeing than on performance. This is unexpected, considering how the dominant discourse points to time management as a skill for professional career development. Of course, the dominant discourse also frames time management as necessary for wellbeing and stress reduction, but to a much lesser extent. Our finding that time management has a stronger influence on wellbeing in no way negates the importance of time management as a work skill. Rather, this finding challenges the intuitive notion that time management is more effective for work than for other life domains. As further evidence, notice how in Table 6 the effect of time management on life satisfaction is 72% stronger than that on job satisfaction.

Time management and distress

Time management seems to allay various forms of distress, although to a lesser extent than it enhances wellbeing. The alleviating effect on psychological distress is particularly strong ( r = -0.358; see Table 7 ).

VariablekNr95% CIQ(df) (SE)
5815,387-0.222 -0.273 | -0.170611.57 (57)0.0380.01090.68
265,621-0.225 -0.295 | -0.153184.49 (25)0.0310.01286.44
    Emotional exhaustion3213-0.260 -0.338 | -0.1791.86 (2)00.0060
    Stress173,367-0.286 -0.390 | -0.176163.84 (16)0.050.02490.23
    Work-life conflict92,812-0.163 -0.277 | -0.04382.11 (8)0.0310.01890.25
3410,100-0.254 -0.315 | -0.190350.58 (33)0.0340.01290.85
    Anxiety166,648-0.181 -0.255 | -0.105140.28 (15)0.0210.01189.30
    Depression2625-0.226 -0.375 | -0.065----
    Psychological distress102,196-0.358 -0.447 | -0.26352.98 (9)0.0230.01483.01
    Hopelessness2565-0.218 -0.296 | -0.138----
    Boredom51,248-0.310 -0.507 | -0.08169.68 (4)0.0700.05594.26
    Negative affect42,393-0.232-0.451 | 0.01470.74 (3)0.0610.06195.75
    Worry3291-0.191 -0.355 | -0.0163.98 (2)0.0120.02549.77
72,067-0.204 -0.264 | -0.14211.52 (6)0.0030.00447.93

That time management has a weaker effect on distress should not be surprising. First, wellbeing and distress are not two poles on opposite ends of a spectrum. Although related, wellbeing and distress are distinct [ 93 ]. Thus, there is no reason to expect time management to have a symmetrical effect on wellbeing and distress. Second, and relatedly, the factors that influence wellbeing and distress are also distinct. Specifically, self-efficacy (i.e., seeing oneself as capable) is a distinct predictor of wellbeing while neuroticism and life events in general are distinct predictors of distress [ 94 ]. It stands to reason that time management can enhance self-efficacy. (Or, alternatively, that people high in self-efficacy would be more likely to engage in time management, although experimental evidence suggests that time management training makes people feel more in control of their time [ 89 ]; it is thus plausible that time management may have a causal effect on self-efficacy. Relatedly, note how time management ability is strongly related to internal locus of control in Table 8 ) In contrast, time management can do considerably less in the way of tackling neuroticism and dampening the emotional impact of tragic life events. In other words, the factors that affect wellbeing may be much more within the purview of time management than the factors that affect distress. For this reason, time management may be less effective in alleviating distress than in improving wellbeing.

Time management and individual differences

Time management is, overall, less related to individual differences than to other variables.

Age, for instance, hardly correlates with time management (with a relatively high consistency between studies, I 2 = 55.79, see Table 8 above).

Similarly, gender only tenuously correlates with time management, although in the expected direction: women seem to have stronger time management abilities than men. The very weak association with gender ( r = -0.087) is particularly surprising given women’s well-documented superior self-regulation skills [ 95 ]. That being said, women’s time management abilities seem to grow stronger over the years ( N = 37, B = -.0049, p < .05, Q model = 3.89(1), Q residual = 218.42(35), I 2 = 83.98, R 2 analog = .03; also see Fig 3 below). More realistically, this increase may not be due to women’s time management abilities getting stronger per se but, rather, to the fact that women now have more freedom to manage their time [ 96 ].

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is pone.0245066.g003.jpg

Other demographic indicators, such as education and number of children, were nonsignificant. Similarly, the relationships between time management and personal attributes and attitudes were either weak or nonsignificant, save for two notable exceptions. First, the link between time management and internal locus of control (i.e., the extent to which people perceive they’re in control of their lives) is quite substantial. This is not surprising, because time management presupposes that people believe they can change their lives. Alternatively, it may be that time management helps people strengthen their internal locus of control, as experimental evidence suggests [ 89 ]. Second, the link between time management and self-esteem is equally substantial. Here again, one can make the argument either way: people with high self-esteem might be confident enough to manage their time or, conversely, time management may boost self-esteem. The two options are not mutually exclusive: people with internal loci of control and high self-esteem levels can feel even more in control of their lives and better about themselves through time management.

We also note a very weak but statistically significant negative association between time management and multitasking. It has almost become commonsense that multitasking does not lead to performance [ 97 ]. As a result, people with stronger time management skills might deliberately steer clear of this notoriously ineffective strategy.

In addition, time management was mildly related to hours spent studying but not hours spent working. (These variables cover only student samples working part- or full-time and thus do not apply to non-student populations.) This is consistent with time-use studies revealing that teenagers and young adults spend less time working and more time studying [ 98 ]. Students who manage their time likely have well-defined intentions, and trends suggest those intentions will target education over work because, it is hoped, education offers larger payoffs over the long-term [ 99 ].

In terms of contextual factors, time management does not correlate significantly with job autonomy. This is surprising, as we expected autonomy to be a prerequisite for time management (i.e., you can’t manage time if you don’t have the freedom to). Nevertheless, qualitative studies have shown how even in environments that afford little autonomy (e.g., restaurants), workers can carve out pockets of time freedom to momentarily cut loose [ 100 ]. Thus, time management behaviors may flourish even in the most stymying settings. In addition, the fact that time management is associated with less role overload and previous attendance of time management training programs makes sense: time management can mitigate the effect of heavy workloads and time management training, presumably, improves time management skills.

Finally, time management is linked to all personality traits. Moreover, previous reviews of the literature have commented on the link between time management and conscientiousness in particular [ 32 ]. What our study reveals is the substantial magnitude of the effect ( r = 0.451). The relationship is not surprising: conscientiousness entails orderliness and organization, which overlap significantly with time management. That time management correlates so strongly with personality (and so little with other individual differences) lends credence to the dispositional view of time management [ 101 – 103 ]. However, this finding should not be taken to mean that time management is a highly inheritable, fixed ability. Having a “you either have it or you don’t” view of time management is not only counterproductive [ 104 ] but also runs counter to evidence showing that time management training does, in fact, help people manage their time better.

Does time management work? It seems so. Time management has a moderate influence on job performance, academic achievement, and wellbeing. These three outcomes play an important role in people’s lives. Doing a good job at work, getting top grades in school, and nurturing psychological wellbeing contribute to a life well lived. Widespread exhortations to get better at time management are thus not unfounded: the importance of time management is hard to overstate.

Contributions

Beyond answering the question of whether time management works, this study contributes to the literature in three major ways. First, we quantify the impact of time management on several outcomes. We thus not only address the question of whether time management works, but also, and importantly, gauge to what extent time management works. Indeed, our meta-analysis covers 53,957 participants, which allows for a much more precise, quantified assessment of time management effectiveness compared to qualitative reviews.

Second, this meta-analysis systematically assesses relationships between time management and a host of individual differences and contextual factors. This helps us draw a more accurate portrait of potential antecedents of higher (or lower) scores on time management measures.

Third, our findings challenge intuitive ideas concerning what time management is for. Specifically, we found that time management enhances wellbeing—and in particular life satisfaction—to a greater extent than it does various types of performance. This runs against the popular belief that time management primarily helps people perform better and that wellbeing is simply a byproduct of better performance. Of course, it may be that wellbeing gains, even if higher than performance gains, hinge on performance; that is to say, people may need to perform better as a prerequisite to feeling happier. But this argument doesn’t jibe with experiments showing that even in the absence of performance gains, time management interventions do increase wellbeing [ 89 ]. This argument also founders in the face of evidence linking time management with wellbeing among the unemployed [ 105 ], unemployment being an environment where performance plays a negligible role, if any. As such, this meta-analysis lends support to definitions of time management that are not work- or performance-centric.

Future research and limitations

This meta-analysis questions whether time management should be seen chiefly as a performance device. Our questioning is neither novel nor subversive: historically people have managed time for other reasons than efficiency, such as spiritual devotion and philosophical contemplation [ 72 , 106 , 107 ]. It is only with relatively recent events, such as the Industrial Revolution and waves of corporate downsizing, that time management has become synonymous with productivity [ 43 , 65 ]. We hope future research will widen its scope and look more into outcomes other than performance, such as developing a sense of meaning in life [ 108 ]. One of the earliest time management studies, for instance, explored how time management relates to having a sense of purpose [ 73 ]. However, very few studies followed suit since. Time management thus stands to become a richer, more inclusive research area by investigating a wider array of outcomes.

In addition, despite the encouraging findings of this meta-analysis we must refrain from seeing time management as a panacea. Though time management can make people’s lives better, it is not clear how easy it is for people to learn how to manage their time adequately. More importantly, being “good” at time management is often a function of income, education, and various types of privilege [ 42 , 43 , 46 , 109 ]. The hackneyed maxim that “you have as many hours in a day as Beyoncé,” for instance, blames people for their “poor” time management in pointing out that successful people have just as much time but still manage to get ahead. Yet this ill-conceived maxim glosses over the fact that Beyoncé and her ilk do, in a sense, have more hours in a day than average people who can’t afford a nanny, chauffeur, in-house chefs, and a bevy of personal assistants. Future research should thus look into ways to make time management more accessible.

Furthermore, this meta-analysis rests on the assumption that time management training programs do enhance people’s time management skills. Previous reviews have noted the opacity surrounding time management interventions—studies often don’t explain what, exactly, is taught in time management training seminars [ 18 ]. As a result, comparing the effect of different interventions might come down to comparing apples and oranges. (This might partly account for the high heterogeneity between studies.) We hope that our definition of time management will spur future research into crafting more consistent, valid, and generalizable interventions that will allow for more meaningful comparisons.

Finally, most time management studies are cross-sectional. Yet it is very likely that the effect of time management compounds over time. If time management can help students get better grades, for instance, those grades can lead to better jobs down the line [ 110 ]. Crucially, learning a skill takes time, and if time management helps people make the time to learn a skill, then time management stands to dramatically enrich people’s lives. For this reason, longitudinal studies can track different cohorts to see how time management affects people’s lives over time. We expect that developing time management skills early on in life can create a compound effect whereby people acquire a variety of other skills thanks to their ability to make time.

Overall, this study offers the most comprehensive, precise, and fine-grained assessment of time management to date. We address the longstanding debate over whether time management influences job performance in revealing a positive, albeit moderate effect. Interestingly, we found that time management impacts wellbeing—and in particular life satisfaction—to a greater extent than performance. That means time management may be primarily a wellbeing enhancer, rather than a performance booster. Furthermore, individual and external factors played a minor role in time management, although this does not necessarily mean that time management’s effectiveness is universal. Rather, we need more research that focuses on the internal and external variables that affect time management outcomes. We hope this study will tantalize future research and guide practitioners in their attempt to make better use of their time.

Supporting information

S1 checklist, acknowledgments.

We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge our colleagues for their invaluable help: Mengchan Gao, Talha Aziz, Elizabeth Eley, Robert Nason, Andrew Ryder, Tracy Hecht, and Caroline Aubé.

Funding Statement

The authors received no specific funding for this work.

Data Availability

  • DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/995/1/012042
  • Corpus ID: 149504743

The Impact of Time Management on Students’ Academic Achievement

  • S. N. Razali , Mohd Saifullah Rusiman , +1 author Norazman Arbin
  • Published 1 April 2018
  • Journal of Physics: Conference Series

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Investigating the correlation between time management and accomplishing the highest honor of academic achievement in pmpbi unj students.

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A quantitative exploration of time management skills and academic achievement: A case study of agriculture students in Universiti Teknologi Mara Cawangan Melaka

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Farah Nadzirah Jamrus , Fadhlina Izzah Saman; A quantitative exploration of time management skills and academic achievement: A case study of agriculture students in Universiti Teknologi Mara Cawangan Melaka. AIP Conf. Proc. 21 July 2021; 2347 (1): 020128. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0051500

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The main objective of this study is to analyse the effect of the time management skill among university students on their academic achievement. In this study, Time Management Questionnaire (TMQ) developed by Britton and Tesser was administered to 120 randomly selected Agriculture students in Universiti Teknologi Mara Cawangan Melaka. The respondents were 55 male and 65 female students. To analyse the effect of the time management, regression analysis was used and showed that there is exist positive linear relationship between time management skill and their academic achievement. When the data analysed with respect to gender variable, the female students obtained higher mean time management score than male students. Then, t-test is conducted and revealed that there is a difference in time management skills among gender statistically.

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A study on university student’s time management and academic achievement

  • November 2017
  • International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health 4(12):4761

Najnin Khanam

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For students to better manage their curriculum and achieve learning objectives, time management behaviors or skills are argued to improve the positive academic output. The aim of the study is to find the impact of time management on the academic performance of students among the diagnostic radiology technology students at KAU. This study had a cross-sectional survey-based study design. It was conducted among students of diagnostic radiology technology department at King Abdul-Aziz University from Sep .  2020 to Feb .  2021. For this study, 152 students were targeted among which 142 completed the questionnaire, making the response rate of 93.4%. Among 142 participants, 75 (52.8%) were females and 52 (36.6%) were in the 2018 batch. Majority of the students i.e., 107 (75.4%) had GPA between 4.5 - 5 in 2020. Whereas, 37.3% agreed or strongly agreed that they manage their time. Here, 69.2% students with 4.5 - 5 GPA strongly agreed that they meet their deadline (p value = 0.005) and 36.7% students with 4 - 4.5 GPA strongly believed that their academic performance decreased due to mis planning (p value = 0.005). Around 71 (66.3%) students with 4.5 - 5 GPA agreed or strongly agreed to make to do list or calendar (p value 0.047). In conclusion, according to student’s perception, preplanning their studies had been beneficial for their academic performance. However, less than half of the students agreed that they manage their time.

Academic Achievement , Cross-Sectional , Radiology , Students , Time Management

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1. Introduction

Throughout the history, there has been great emphasis on the effective and efficient management of time, which has also been considered the key to success (Pugh & Nathwani, 2017; Nasrullah & Khan, 2015) . Frederick Winslow Taylor gave the concept to use time management for analyzing time and motion studies of employees with aim to decrease time wasting and unproductive work (Savino, 2016) . In this competitive era, for high performance, the organizations and directors emphasize on searching time management tools (Kumar & Aithal, 2019) . It has also been advised to start practicing time management from the early student life (Valle et al., 2016) . Time management has also been defined as a form of self-management with a clear emphasis on time in understanding what activities to do; how to do them more efficiently; in what time it should be done and when is the correct time to the particular activity (Savino, 2016) . It has also been association with low anxiety and greater academic achievement in students (Jenaabadi, Nastiezaie, & Jalalzaei, 2016) .

Whereas performing goal directed activities with the purpose of using time efficiently defines time management as “behavior” (Aeon & Aguinis, 2017) . The time management behavior has three basic surfaces that are: time attitudes, long-range planning and short-range planning (Aeon & Aguinis, 2017) . Time attitude is the positive or negative perspective towards the present, future and past time which had been directly linked to academic achievement, especially in scientific subjects (Nieuwoudt, & Brickhill, 2017) . The concept of handling everyday jobs for longer period of time and keeping up with the objectives set for significant dates is called the competence in long range planning. Whereas, planning in the short run for the day to a day activity or planning for tasks within a day or week is short-range planning. For students to better manage their curriculum and achieve learning objectives, these time management behaviors or skills are argued to improve the positive academic output (Razali et al., 2018) .

There have been many studies that found association between greater academic achievement and effective time management as students acquire strategies that helps them in meeting competing demands (Nadinloyi et al., 2013; Kharadze, Gulua, & Davit, 2017) . The curriculums in higher education institutes are designed in a way that gets to peak and troughs in the workload of student requiring them to manage between their work-life balance, often without the support of institution. The non-cognitive personal behavior i.e., perspective of students regarding time management is also an effective predictor of educational achievement as with poor time management skills it gets difficult for students to plan their studies and which causes them anxiety and agitation at the assessment time which usually takes place at the end of the course (Scherer, Talley, & Fife, 2017) . Students have previously linked negative educational results with poor time management which could be partially self-serving bias, however, there have been ample studies that establish this association (Nadinloyi et al., 2013; Kharadze, Gulua, & Davit, 2017) . There have been studies conducted on time management and educational achievement in business students (Sayari, Jalagat, & Dalluay, 2017) , nursing students (Nayak, 2019) , management students (Gupta & Chitkara, 2018) , and engineering students (Adams & Blair, 2019) . However, none have been done on radiology students.

Previous studies have determined a positive effect of time management. Time management skills have indicated a positive effect on student learning and associated outcomes. A number of studies have identified the positive impact of time management. Time management skills have been shown to have a positive impact on student learning and student outcomes (Kearns & Gardiner, 2007; Kelly, 2002; McKenzie, Gow, & Schweitzer, 2004) and Krause & Coates (2008) indicated that the ability for successfully managing their time is the benchmark of students in developing better study habits as well as strategies for success. Time management provides individuals the ways for structuring and controlling their activities (Claessens et al., 2004) . In addition, report that the capacity to successfully manage their time is the foundation of students developing good study habits and strategies for success. Time management offers individuals the means to structure and control their activities (Claessens et al., 2004) . In addition, Wang et al. (2011) have revealed that time management is essential beyond the university campus, where the ability to manage one’s free time is revealed to substantially elevates the quality of life of an individual.

Time management is an immense distinction between web-based and formal education administratively and academically. There was the type of learning opportunities in formal education that integrates a clarification of everything (Nieuwoudt & Brickhill, 2017) . Teachers, in this system, are in front of students and they can ask anything regardless of any hesitation or delay. However, distance learning students have no such type of academic environment as compared to formal learners. The presence of physical distance is evidently reported between teacher and student in online learning (Ahmad & Ch, 2017) . Thereby, it is more complex for managing time and gaining high scores in distance education. Web-based students explore and learn online that just integrates incomplete data and the rest is their business for thinking about and examine further. It is an art for managing time and every learner must command and familiar on this skill for the sake of betterment (Broadbent, 2017) . They experience in domestic as well as academic world because of this incompetence. In this regard, majority of learner’s experience issues such as errand vulnerability and repugnance, so they commence for stalling their time administrative skills.

This study is based on existentialism philosophy, which is learner centered and offers direction to students about their study. Learners are self-responsible of their academics as they just seek guidance from their teachers, but take decisions as well as manage all activities themselves. This study is relied on pickle jar theory, which is the modern and relevant theory of time management (Sharma & Would, 2004) . This theory shows that human beings should construct balance among activities and things while integrating time management techniques effectively. The success of students is determined through effective utilization of time at each phase in distance learning institutions and regular system.

Therefore, the aim of the study is to find the impact of time management on the academic performance of students among the diagnostic radiology technology students at KAU. The study objectives also include to find out the effectiveness of the preplanning and the instantaneous planning on academic performance. This research will add self-evaluation to student’s daily habit and plan. Also, it will provide knowledge and recommendation for skills that can assist student for perfect personal strategic plan. It will also help to overcome the wrong common rumors statements about time management and will raise awareness about procrastinating behavior of time management and its effect on academic performance among radiology students.

This study had a cross-sectional survey-based study design. It was conducted among students of diagnostic radiology technology department at King Abdul-Aziz University. The study duration was six months from Sep 2020 to Feb 2021. Only the undergraduate students were included in the studies. Post-graduate students and students who had completed their education were excluded. The recommended sample size with 95% confidence level, 200 population size, 50% response distribution, and 5% margin error were calculated to be 132.

All registered undergraduate students were invited for taking part in the study. They were provided a brief overview of the project as well as information about confidentiality and research ethics. A total of 132 students responded by providing informed consent and completing the survey. The participation rate was just over 66% of the overall population. There might be some bias in the resultant data since the survey was self-developed. The nature of this bias is complex to establish, since the literature might recommend that both students should be responsive to complete this survey who have better time management skills and tend to procrastinate.

The academic performance of students such as GPA was acquired through the student administration system and departmental documents of the institution. Log files were also collected on students’ participation in courses on the virtual learning platform. A unique random identifier was allocated to each student that would not show his or her identification to others beyond the research team. These unique codes enabled the combination of performance data, virtual learning platform files, and questionnaire responses in excel file, which did not comprise of any personally identifiable information. Once collected, such unique codes became irrelevant and were omitted.

This study was approved by the Research and ethics committee of faculty of applied Medical Science, KAU. The questionnaire was a self-designed, and had 22 questions on Likert scale of 1 - 5 where 1 indicated strongly agree and 5 denoted strongly disagree and last question was about the GPA achieved in the last year. The questionnaire was prepared on the basis of self-management, awareness, management, preferences, and performance domains (Appendix 1).

Feedback was taken from research experts and changes were made before implementation. Also, an internal pilot study on 20 students was done before distributing it on the larger sample. The SPSS software version 25.0 was used to analyze the data. The Pearson chi-square test was conducted to find association between the time management and GPA achieved. The alpha coefficient was 0.05 and p-value below 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Among 142 participants, 75 (52.8%) were females and 67 (47.2%) were males. Around 52 (36.6%) were in the 2018 batch, 45 (31.7%) were in the 2019 batch and 45 (31.7%) were in the 2020 batch of radiology. Figure 1 represents the GPA of student. Majority of the students i.e., 107 (75.4%) had last year GPA between 4.5 - 5. Table 1 represents the frequency of the answers given by the participants for each question related to time management. Around 64.8% disagreed or strongly disagreed that preplanning methods are inefficient, indicating that majority of the students perceive preplanning to be efficient for academic performance. Whereas, 37.3% agreed or strongly agreed that they manage their time. Majority of the students (92.3%) agreed that they meet their deadlines ( Table 1 ). Though, 74.6% agree or strongly agree that their time management skills can be approved.

Table 2 is showing the relationship between GPA of last year and student perception regarding time management. Here, 36.7% students with 4 - 4.5 GPA strongly believed that their academic performance decreased due to mis planning (p value = 0.005). Whereas, Table 2 shows the relationship between GPA of last year and time management behavior. Here, 69.2% students with 4.5 - 5 GPA strongly agreed that they meet their deadline (p value = 0.005). Similarly, Table 3 showed the relationship between various factors and last year GPA. Here, majority i.e., 71 (66.3%) students with 4.5 - 5 GPA agreed or strongly agreed to make to do list or calendar (p value 0.047) ( Table 4 ).

Figure 1 . Percentage of students with various GPAs.

Table 1 . Frequency of the response related to time management on Likert scale.

Table 2 . Relationship between student perception and GPA.

Table 3 . Relationship between behavior for time and GPA of last year.

Table 4 . Relationship between various factors of time management and GPA.

4. Discussion

This study aimed to find the impact of time management on the academic performance of students among the diagnostic radiology technology students at KAU. There were more female students that answered the questionnaire. According to student’s perception, preplanning their studies had been beneficial for their academic performance. However, less than half of the students agreed that they manage their time, which could be due to various reasons. In this study students agreed that insufficient sleep pattern makes their feel lazy and they are unable to manage time. Furthermore, majority also believed that the last year had been challenging (due to covid-19 pandemic) and affected their time (and online learning). Previous study on undergraduate nursing students also found that decreasing procrastination and increasing time management will help the students to have better academic performance, less anxiety and will be better prepared for working in hospital (Romero-Blanco et al., 2020) . Similar to the results of this stud, previous study Romero-Blanco et al. (2020) also posited that during previous year of covid-19 pandemic, sleep pattern among students has been affected. Elagra et al. (2016) suggest that decrease in quality sleep also decreases the academic performance in the students.

The students with positive attitude and who claimed to manage time and meet their deadlines were also had high academic grades. Whereas, short-term and long-term time management were not associated with the high GPA. Contrast to it, previous study had resulted time management behavior such as short range and long-range management to be effective (Ganguly, Kulkarni, & Gupta, 2017) . However, those studies are old and suggested effect in mature female students only. Therefore, a longitudinal study is required to observe the relationship between time management behavior and academic achievement for a definite relationship.

Among the high GPA holders, majority of them agreed to make a diary, to-do list or put important dates on the calendar. It might be due to the established relationship between maintaining a task list with effective time management (Caligor, 2017) . However, according to recent study (Evans, 2017) , it is important to digitalize this to-do list or task list for better accessibility, timely reminders and collaborations. This study is limited based on its design being a cross-sectional survey which is a snapshot of a situation. Therefore, for better management, it is important to have a longitudinal prospective study with long term follow up throughout the academic years to further analyze the relationship. It is also recommended for students to maintain their sleeping pattern for better time management. Furthermore, as a to-do list or making task list on calendar has been a positive factor in time management and academic achievement, it is recommended to use digitalized to-do lists for better performance.

In conclusion, according to student’s perception, preplanning their studies had been beneficial for their academic performance. However, less than half of the students agreed that they manage their time. No relationship was found between short range and long-range time management behavior on academic achievement. This study recommends better sleeping pattern and making of to-do list among students for better time management, which could lead to high academic achievement.

Acknowledgements

The author is very thankful to all the associated personnel and departments in any reference that contributed in/for the purpose of this research.

Funding Sources

No financial support was received for this study.

Ethical Considerations

This study has been reviewed and approved by the Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdul-Aziz University.

Research questionnaire

Statement Questions (in a scale of 5 choose from strongly disagree – Strongly agree)

1) Preplanning methods are inefficient, and it does not affect academic performance.

2) I find this year challenging and it has affected my time (Online learning).

3) I manage stress when handling multiple conflicting duties.

4) My academic performance is degraded due to mis planning.

5) I prefer to manage my time daily.

6) I have a clear established plan for each week’s tasks.

7) I have a clear established plan for each month’s tasks.

8) I have a set of goals for the entire quarter/semester.

9) I have a clear established plan for each year’s tasks.

10) I feel lazy and my study mood is ruined because of insufficient sleeping-pattern.

11) I have enough time to complete my tasks during the day.

12) I usually understand the whole radiology lectures.

13) I meet the deadline for any work.

14) I often tend to delay/postpone my tasks.

15) I effectively manage workload.

16) I feel that my time management skill needs more improvement (self-assessment).

17) I priorities between various competing tasks.

18) I used to put my important dates on a single calendar (To-do-list program etc.).

19) I spend my time wisely and avoid distractions.

20) I can adapt and be flexible when changes occur, reassess priorities, and still produce quality work.

21) My participating in extracurricular activities won’t affect my academic performance.

22) I balance between my private time and study time

23) Please specify your last year GPA (√):

a) I achieve a (4.5 - 5) last year _____

b) I achieve a (4.0 - 4.4) last year _____

c) I achieve a 3.5 - 3.9 last year _____

d) I achieve a 2.5 - 3.4 last year _____

e) I achieve less than (2.5) last year _____

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

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Comparative Analysis of Productivity Apps on Time Management: A Survey Based Study

Profile image of Riqza Qaisar

2020, National Conference on Education (NCE-2020)

As success is based on time management and university students face difficulty to manage their time effectively in order to keep balance in their social and academic life. The students either spend all their time in the use of social media or in academics which in return affects their health. We are living in the digital world of the 21st century where apps are being used widely and they can help the students to utilize their time in the best possible way. Productivity apps help to enhance the efficiency of an individual's work by assisting one to schedule one's work. There are also trends in these apps in which their achievements are shown by a graph and hence the rise in the graph gives them a sense of pleasure and accomplishment since monitoring is the key aspect of success. This survey based study through questionnaires has been conducted in order to evaluate the effects of productivity apps on students' capabilities. A quantitative and experimental study has been conducted. Twenty five students from the National University of Modern Languages have been selected with purposive sampling technique in this research. Findings of the case study reveal that sixty five percent of the students accomplish their set targets according to their schedule. This study is beneficial for students and others.

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EMMANUEL RYAN P. FRANCISCO

Emman Francisco RN

Proceedings of the International Conferences on Educational, Social Sciences and Technology - ICESST 2018

Muhammad Sulaiman

Iranian Journal of Educational Research

SSRN Electronic Journal

Reynol Junco , Shelia R Cotten

Mostafa Al-Emran

Innovation, Technology, and Knowledge Management

Diana Bustamante

International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET)

Elmira Uaidullakyzy

United International Journal for Research & Technology

UIJRT | United International Journal for Research & Technology , Jimbo Antipolo

Murat Akser , ismail hakki polat , Sarphan Uzunoğlu

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IMAGES

  1. (PDF) Impact of Time-Management on the Student’s Academic Performance

    quantitative research about students time management

  2. (PDF) EDUCATION STUDENTS`STUDENTS`TIME MANAGEMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION

    quantitative research about students time management

  3. How Quantitative Research Can Help Senior High School Students

    quantitative research about students time management

  4. (PDF) The Impact of Time Management on the Students' Academic Achievements

    quantitative research about students time management

  5. Importance of Effective Time Management for Student's Life

    quantitative research about students time management

  6. Why Is Time Management Important For Students? » 21st Century University

    quantitative research about students time management

VIDEO

  1. How can college students best manage their time?

  2. Research Methods S6b

  3. Research Methods S6a

  4. Time management for research students

  5. The art of effective time management for students

  6. How I manage my supervision students in Notion

COMMENTS

  1. The Impact of Time Management on the Students' Academic Achievements

    Time mana gement pla ys a vital role in improving studen t's academic perfor mance and achievements. Each and. every student should have time management ability which includes setting goals ...

  2. Impact of Time Management Behaviors on Undergraduate Engineering

    Time management can be defined as clusters of behavioral skills that are important in the organization of study and course load (Lay & Schouwenburg, 1993).Empirical evidence suggests that effective time management is associated with greater academic achievement (McKenzie & Gow, 2004; Trueman & Hartley, 1996) as students learn coping strategies that allow them to negotiate competing demands.

  3. The Impact of Time Management on Students' Academic Achievement

    The Impact of Time Management on Students' Academic Achievement. S N A M Razali 1, M S Rusiman 1, W S Gan 1 and N Arbin 2. Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Volume 995, International Seminar on Mathematics and Physics in Sciences and Technology 2017 (ISMAP 2017) 28-29 October 2017, Hotel Katerina, Malaysia Citation S N A M Razali et al 2018 ...

  4. (PDF) Students' Time Management, Academic Procrastination, and

    It is in this context that this quantitative study was carried out to determine how time management and procrastination affected students' performance in science and mathematics during the pandemic.

  5. College Students' Time Management: a Self-Regulated Learning

    Despite its recognized importance for academic success, much of the research investigating time management has proceeded without regard to a comprehensive theoretical model for understanding its connections to students' engagement, learning, or achievement. Our central argument is that self-regulated learning provides the rich conceptual framework necessary for understanding college students ...

  6. PDF The effectiveness of Time Management Strategies Instruction on students

    individual characteristics and others influence in time management research (Claessens et al, 2007). This is also in line with related empirical findings. For example, high achieving students were found to exhibit more self-regulated learning ... The effectiveness of Time Management Strategies Instruction on students' academic time management ...

  7. Does time management work? A meta-analysis

    We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the impact of time management on performance and well-being. Results show that time management is moderately related to job performance, academic achievement, and wellbeing. Time management also shows a moderate, negative relationship with distress. Interestingly, individual differences and contextual ...

  8. PDF The Effect of Time Management Practice on the Academic ...

    Generally, this study underscores the importance of understanding the role time management in academic achievement. Certainly those who are unable to manage time well may be at risk for underachievement. Keywords: General time management, Academic achievement, Student. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-4-05. 1.

  9. (PDF) Students' Time Management, Academic Procrastination, and

    A quantitative research design was employed specifically utilising a descriptive, comparative, and correlational design. ... Differences on students' time management and academic procrastination when grouped according to sexes Variable Time Management Academic Procrastination Group Female Male Female Male Mean 2.122 2.110 3.284 3.300 SD 0.502 ...

  10. PDF Relationship between Time Management Behavior and Academic Performance

    (1991) concluded that university students' time management skills accounted for 36% of the variance with their grade point average. Macan et al., (1990) concluded that college students with more perceived ... The present study was based on quantitative (descriptive survey) research design. Cross-sectional survey

  11. (PDF) The Relevance of Time Management in Academic Achievement: A

    The Relevance of Time Managemen t in Academic Achievement: a Critical Review of the Literature. Zanyar Nathir Ghafar. Information Technology Department, Bright Technical and Vocational. Institute ...

  12. PDF Path Relationship of Time Management and Academic Achievement of ...

    The studies uncovered that a group of students has time management ability at moderate level and very few individuals have command on ... quantitative and survey method used for data collection. The outcomes of ... Various specialists evaluated the need to fuse time in hypothetical models and research structures in associations. With the

  13. The Impact of Time Management on Students' Academic Achievement

    Time management is very important and it may actually affect individual's overall performance and achievements. Students nowadays always commented that they do not have enough time to complete all the tasks assigned to them. In addition, a university environment's flexibility and freedom can derail students who have not mastered time management skills. Therefore, the aim of this study is ...

  14. PDF TIME MANAGEMENT AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF HIGHER SECONDARY STUDENTS

    between the Time management and Academic achievement of Higher Secondary students. Keywords: Academic Achievement, Higher Secondary Students, Time Management. A. VENCES CYRIL RESEARCH PAPERS INTRODUCTION An individual alone cannot perform all the necessary activities. Therefore, human beings join or co-operate

  15. PDF The Effect of Time Management on the Academic Performance of Students

    important. Owing to the importance of time management this study deals with investigating the relationship of student‟s time management and academic achievement in the higher educational institutes of Islamabad. The paper is organized as follows; section 2 reviews the relevant literature. Data and methodology are presented in section 3.

  16. PDF Time Management: It's Effects on the Academic Performance of the Students

    Keywords— time management, academic performance, students, skill. INTRODUCTION According to Aduke (2015), time management provides individuals the ways for structuring and controlling their activities. Time management is the ability to organize, plan, arrange, and account for one's time in order to increase the performance of the students.

  17. Relationship Between University Students Time Management Skills and

    The study used quantitative research design. The population of the study consisted of all Bachelor level students ... Table: 1 Undergraduate students time management level Time management attributes Setting goals and priorities Mechanics of time Preference for organization Perceived control of time Number of Items N Mean Rank 3.56 Standard ...

  18. A quantitative exploration of time management skills and academic

    The main objective of this study is to analyse the effect of the time management skill among university students on their academic achievement. In this study, Time Management Questionnaire (TMQ) developed by Britton and Tesser was administered to 120 randomly selected Agriculture students in Universiti Teknologi Mara Cawangan Melaka.

  19. (PDF) A study on university student's time management and academic

    The objective of the study is to study the time management skill and perceived academic achievements among university students.Methods: A cross sectional study was done among medical students ...

  20. The Relationship Between Time Management and Academic Performance

    Materials and Procedure In this research, a questionnaire which named is 'Time Management Questionnaire (TMQ)' and developed by Britton and Tesser (1991) will be used to measure time management skill of participant students. The time management questionnaire includes 18 items, each answer on a 5-point scale consisting of the responses ...

  21. PDF The Effect of Time Management on Academic Performance among Students of

    performance in addition to the differences in the time management level between students according to faculty, gender and curriculum. Keywords: Time management, Cross-sectional study, CGPA, Extra-curricular activities, Jazan University students. INTRODUCTION Time management plays a vital role in improving student's academic performance.

  22. Impact of Time-Management on the Student's Academic Performance: A

    This research will add self-evaluation to student's daily habit and plan. Also, it will provide knowledge and recommendation for skills that can assist student for perfect personal strategic plan. ... The Impact of Time Management on Students' Academic Achievement. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 995, Article ID: 012042. https://doi ...

  23. (PDF) Comparative Analysis of Productivity Apps on Time Management: A

    As success is based on time management and university students face difficulty to manage their time effectively in order to keep balance in their social and academic life. The students either spend all their time in the use of social media or in ... The data used in this research is quantitative data and path analysis was conducted. The ...