In the din of current debates over productivity, reduced workweeks, and flexible hours, time management comes to the fore as a major talking point. Some opinions take time management’s effectiveness for granted, presumably because time management offers a seemingly logical solution to a lifestyle that increasingly requires coordination and prioritization skills (Southerton, 2003, 2009). On the other hand, more and more popular media outlets voice concern over time
management, claiming that it undermines our wellbeing (e.g., Burkeman, 2016). This questioning of time management is becoming more common among academics as well (e.g., Gregg, 2015). 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 might actually be counterproductive or even harmful (Jacobs & Gerson, 2004; Reagle, 2019). Other scholars have raised concerns that time management may foster an individualistic, quantitative, financial view of time that perpetuates social inequalities (Wajcman, 2018). For instance, time management manuals beguile readers with promises of boundless productivity that may not be accessible to women who are usually more hobbled by care work (e.g., tending to young children) and housework than men (Gregg, 2018; Sabelis, 2001). 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 (Costas & Grey, 2013). Furthermore, time management manuals often ascribe a financial value to time—the most famous time management adage being “time is money.” 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 (DeVoe & House, 2011; DeVoe & Pfeffer, 2007a, 2007b, 2011; Whillans & Dunn, 2015). What’s more, the pressure induced by thinking of time as money may ultimately undermine psychological and physical health (Roxburgh, 2004). Clearly, then, the outcomes of time management are a matter of heated public and scholarly debate.
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 (e.g., Allen, 2001; Lakein, 1973; Sutherland, 2014)—claims that for a long time remained untested. Initial academic forays into the question challenged those claims: some studies suggested that time management training didn’t improve performance (Macan, 1994, 1996). These studies used a variety of research designs, running the gamut from lab experiments, field experiments, longitudinal studies, and cross-sectional surveys to experience sampling (Claessens, van Eerde, Rutte, & Roe, 2010; Green & Skinner, 2005; Macan, Gibson, & Cunningham, 2010; Woolfolk & Woolfolk, 1986). Some studies occasionally did find an association between time management and performance, but only in highly motivated workers (Barling et al., 1996); studies establishing a more straightforward link with performance were rare (e.g., Orpen, 1994). 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 (Aeon & Aguinis, 2017; Claessens et al., 2007). It is interesting to note that scholars typically assess the effectiveness time management by its ability to influence some aspect of performance or wellbeing. In other words, the question of whether time management works is equivalent to asking whether time management influences performance and wellbeing, at least if we are to be consistent with previous research. The link between time management and performance at work can be traced historically to the Industrial Revolution and scientific management (e.g., Taylor, 1911). Nevertheless, a feminist reading of time management history reveals that our modern idea of time management also descends from female time management thinkers of that same era, such as Lillian Gilbreth, who wrote treatises on efficient household management (Gregg, 2018; Korhonen, 2017; Rich, 2015). As the link between efficiency and work output became clearer, industrialists went to great lengths to encourage workers to use their time more optimally (Landes, 1983; Martineau, 2015; Thompson,
1967). Over time, people have internalized a duty to be productive through optimal time use and now see time management as a personal responsibility at work (Alvesson & Deetz, 2006; Gregg, 2018). 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 (Gill & Schlossman, 2004) and parents, especially well-educated ones, have been spending more time preparing children for increasingly competitive college admissions (Dotti Sani & Treas, 2016; Ramey & Ramey, 2009). In this context, time management is seen as a vital 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 a necessary condition to living a life well-lived (e.g., Aurelius, 1909; Seneca, 2014). More recently, empirical studies in the 1980s examined the effect of time management on depressive symptoms that often plague unemployed people (Bond & Feather, 1988; Feather & Bond, 1983). Subsequent studies surmised that the effective use of time might thwart a host of wellbeing antagonists, such as work-life conflict and job stress (Adams & Jex, 1999; Jex & Elacqua, 1999).
Overall, then, many studies have looked into the effectiveness of time management. By synthesizing these studies’ collective findings, this meta-analysis provides a more comprehensive answer to the question of whether time management works. In what follows, we outline our rationales concerning why time management should have a positive influence on various outcomes.