EDUCATION STUDENTS`STUDENTS`TIME MANAGEMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Abstract

The current article aims at conceptualising the research literature about higher education students`students`time management. The study implements the conceptual approach to reviewing the literature. The literature review is comprised by the qualitative data, collected in the form of empirical research studies. It involves the studies that were conducted between 1990 and 2018 in higher education setting only. There are a number of findings: the researchers cannot come to an agreement about one definition of time management, as it is a complex and multidimensional concept; there are some tools, used to measure time management, however, their reliability and validity might be questioned; time management relates to stress and academic performance, although the relationship is not linear; it is possible to develop time management, however, it is not clear to what extent it is possible to influence the outcome variables through time management enhancement; empirical research studies, dedicated to development of time management trainings, lack details concerning the procedures, used to develop time management. Higher education teachers/educators, researchers and policy makers might be interested in the findings of the current research.

Full text

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EDUCATION
Pozdeeva E.S.
STUDENTS` TIME MANAGEMENT
IN HIGHER EDUCATION: REVIEW OF
THE LITERATURE
E.S. Pozdeeva, Perm State National Research University,
Russia
Abstract
The current article aims at conceptualising the research literature
about higher education students` time management. The study implements
the conceptual approach to reviewing the literature. The literature review is
comprised by the qualitative data, collected in the form of empirical
research studies. It involves the studies that were conducted between 1990
and 2018 in higher education setting only. There are a number of findings:
the researchers cannot come to an agreement about one definition of time
management, as it is a complex and multidimensional concept; there are
some tools, used to measure time management, however, their reliability
and validity might be questioned; time management relates to stress and
academic performance, although the relationship is not linear; it is possible
to develop time management, however, it is not clear to what extent it is
possible to influence the outcome variables through time management
enhancement; empirical research studies, dedicated to development of time
management trainings, lack details concerning the procedures, used to
develop time management. Higher education teachers/educators,
researchers and policy makers might be interested in the findings of the
current research.
Keywords: time allocation, academic stress, academic
performance, time management tool, time management training

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Introduction
The problem of time management started being actively researched
in the middle of the twentieth century. However, still there are a lot of
unpacked questions, as well as issues requiring further exploration and
explanation. The research literature in the 1990s began highlighting the
fact that time is, probably, one of the most precious resources that students
possess. A lot of popular literature, based on the anecdotal evidence,
suggested that the way students manage their time may influence their
university or college academic performance, and, as a result, their
employment and life (Macan, Shahani, Dipboye and Phillips, 1990; Britton
and Tesser, 1991; Nonis, 1997; Kearns and Gardiner, 2007). It is important
to allocate time and meet deadlines, especially when it comes to the higher
education setting (Al Khatib, 2014), illuminating these student`s
responsibilities may lead to expulsion, dropout, as well as high levels of
physical and psychological stress. Being a university or a college student
may turn out to be quite stressful for former schoolgirls and schoolboys: in
comparison with school the amount of reading and self-study time are
rapidly increasing; the assignment submission deadlines become stricter
and may affect the final marks; necessity for participation in extracurricular
activities, volunteering or work for income and relevant experience
emerges. Students have to prioritise among all the activities (Meeuwisse,
Born and Severiens, 2013). Little wonder then that students find it difficult
to allocate their time among all their needs and obligations, which leads to
last minute preparation for exams, feeling of being unsatisfied with the
results of their learning process and being stressed (Macan, et. al., 1990).
These time pressures make students feeling not only stressed, but in some
cases even depressed. Nonis (1997), Mirsa and McKean (2000), Al Khatib
(2014), as well as Ganguly, Kulkarni and Gupta (2017) suggested that time
management could be one of the strategies that might help students to cope
with stress and stress-related outcomes.
Zulauf and Gortner (1999) questioned the existing research
literature and raised the important problem of having no stable results in
terms of the relationship between time management and academic
performance. They suggested that this relationship is fragile and requires
more rigorous testing. They also tried to determine if time, spent on
studying, matters and came to the conclusion that it does. However, they
underlined the fact that the study time should be increased very intensively,
which is beyond students` willingness or capacity, as there is already not
enough time in their lives (Kearns and Gardiner, 2007). Therefore, it is
important that students can spend their study time efficiently, so that they

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do not need to increase it. Van der Meer, Jansen and Torenbeek (2010)
supported the idea of the importance of time management for higher
education students. They stressed the fact that universities underestimate
time management in regard with first year students, who have just left
school and are not used to managing their time themselves; they find it
especially challenging and state as the main reason for leaving university
after the first year of studying. Evidence shows that 67 percent of students
highlighted the necessity to manage their time in a more effective way as
the top one educational need (Britton and Tesser, 1991). In addition,
around 30 - 45 percent of students admitted that they experience problems
with procrastination, when writing module assignments; preparation for
exams; and even weekly readings for the lectures and seminars (Douglas,
Bore and Munro, 2016). Approximately 73 percent of students start
preparing for exams and, in some cases, actually studying modules just a
week before exams (Indreica, Cazan and Truta, 2011). One of the reasons
for these problems might be poor time management.
The higher education time management literature emerges all over
the world: India (e.g. Ganguly, et al., 2017), Malaysia (e.g. Wahat, et al.,
2011; Hamzah, et al., 2014), Romania (e.g. Indreica et al., 2011), the
United Arabian Emirates (e.g. Al Khatib, 2014), the United States (e.g.
Macan, 1990; Zulauf and Gortner, 1999) and etc. These are just several
examples of the research papers that are available in English, which
justifies that the problem is quite acute and highlights the importance of
researching the topic. Despite the fact that the problem of time
management in general and time management in higher education in
particular is being researched for over fifty years and almost thirty years
respectively, there are very few research studies that would conceptualise
and review the empirical research literature. It was not possible to find the
studies that would review the empirical literature, connected with higher
education only. Therefore, researching through review of the literature
may help to acquire, summarise, analyse and synthesise the relevant
theoretical and empirical assumptions about time management and its role
for higher education students, as well as provide guidance for higher
education establishments and future empirical research. There are two main
reviews that are comparatively up to date and connected with time
management. The first one is the research article entitled ‘A Review of the
Time Management Literature’ written by Claessens, van Erde, Rutte and
Roe in 2005; while the second is the chapter written by Hellesten from the
book ‘Time Management’ by Stoilov published in 2012.

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Claessens et al. (2005) concentrated the conceptual review on the
time management in several spheres. As the review has been conducted in
2005, it discussed a lot of literature that emerged in the twentieth century
with little focus on the twenty first century. The research showed that time
management has got a positive relationship with perceived control of time,
job satisfaction and stress. However, the relationship of time management
with academic performance turned out to be unclear, as a result, time
management trainings seemed to develop students` time management, but
it did not influence their performance significantly. They also questioned
the reliability of the instruments used to measure time management and
suggested that it could be the reason for unstable results of the empirical
research under discussion. They stated that the review was the first attempt
to conceptualise and analyse the empirical research on time management. It
makes the research to be unique and important. They also suggested that it
is important to continue researching the topic and take other attempts to
review the research literature on time management. In general, the review
conceptualised the literature and it was quite a good attempt to theorise the
existing knowledge. The report is well-structured, with a particular focus in
each section. However, the research literature review did not focus on a
particular setting, which means that it presented the findings in a mixed
way, applied to time management in general. The current research paper
has taken into account some of the points and structural elements that
might be useful for researching higher education setting.
Hellesten (2012) in the systematic review of the literature analysed
the instruments that assessed time management and their validity and
reliability. Hellesten (2012) concluded that the concept of time
management was not clarified properly. It was highlighted, in contrast with
the previous review, that there are some valid and reliable tools to measure
time management. In consistence with the ideas expressed by Claessens et
al. (2005), Hellesten (2012) also did not find the evidence for the
relationship between time management and performance to be sufficient, as
well as they underlined the fact that time management training enhanced
time management behaviours, but not the outcome variables. The author
concluded that despite the amount of research on time management done,
only modest amount of research had been conducted by that time. It was
underlined that more research was necessary to generalise the theory, as
well as literature reviews were needed, in order to examine the existing
empirical research literature. Hellesten (2012) also raised an important
problem, connected with samples: most of the articles, which were
analysed in the systematic review, were aimed at employees` time

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management, while most of the samples, presented in the empirical
research articles, were comprised by students in most cases, however, the
tasks students deal with are much different from the ones that employees
might face at work. Therefore, it can be suggested that it was the first
attempt to differentiate students and employees and face the fact that the
time management roles, behaviours and techniques will be different for the
above mentioned settings. Thus, this might be one of the methodological
flaws that the research might have suffered from, which, in its turn, leads to
unstable results and should be taken into account by future research.
With the development of the Internet, it has become easier to get
access to all sorts of information, including research, all over the world.
However, the problem of quality is quite acute. The thing is that it is
impossible to read all research articles about a particular topic, nothing to
say about some sphere of knowledge. Thus, as it has previously been sated,
literature reviews help to accumulate and summarise knowledge, as well as
critically analyse the existing research literature and methods used (Baker,
2016). The aim of the current research paper is to review the empirical
research studies, in order to determine trends in the research of higher
education students` time management. An additional aims is to determine
voids in the existing knowledge and provide future empirical research with
recommendations. The following research questions have been formulated:
1. How did the concept of students` time management
evolve within the context of higher education? What exactly does the term
‘time management’ mean?
2. What are the tools that have been developed to measure
time management? To what extent their reliability has been proven by the
empirical research?
3. How does time management relate to higher education
students` stress and academic performance?
4. What does the empirical literature say about the
possibility to develop higher education students` time management? What
effective and ineffective trainings are described by the empirical literature?
5. Based on the existing empirical research what suggestions
for future empirical research might be?
Methodology
Webster and Watson (2002) suggested that conducting an effective
literature review is essential for the development of the theory and
advancement of knowledge, as it helps to analytically consider if there is
enough or not enough research undertaken in a particular area of
knowledge, as well as to spot and set the directions for future research.

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They also believed that lack of literature reviews in a particular area may
impede its progress. Baker (2016) supported the aforementioned ideas by
underlining the fact that literature reviews help to inquire and examine the
existing research literature, provide an insight into the topic and determine
what has been done to research it, as well as stimulate the necessary change
and development in practice. Webster and Watson (2002) stated that
conducting literature reviews might be quite challenging for a number of
reasons. One of these reasons may be the challenging nature of structuring
and presenting reviews. Bem (1995) also supported this idea and
highlighted the fact that a consistent literature review requires conceptual
nature of structuring of the report on the researched area and topic.
Webster and Watson (2002) proposed several attributes of a good
research literature review. Among them are the following: a literature
review should provide sufficient evidence for its importance; it should
provide the reader with the key concepts of the topic; it should demonstrate
the limitations of the existing empirical research; it should justify the
proposed ideas; it should motivate researchers to conduct empirical
research on a topic in a particular area, guide and support them in doing
that; and, finally, a good literature review should provide some
implications for researchers. While Baker (2016) extended by saying that
literature reviews should provide the readers with up to date clear
information about the extent to which the topic is researched by
comprehensively reviewing the area and topic of research. Gregory and
Dennis (2018) after comparing non-systematic (e.g. conceptual in the case
of the current research paper) and systematic types of literature reviews
described the following characteristics of the non-systematic type of a
literature review: the question is usually quite non-specific and broad; the
search approach is not explicit; the selection process is biased; and the
synthesis is often qualitative.
Galvan and Galvan (2017) stated that any literature review
consists of two sets of steps: conducting a literature review and writing a
literature review. Conducting a literature review comprises literature
search, reading the literature and making an attempt to mentally analyse
and structure it; while writing a literature review means searching for
primary literature sources, making decision on what literature is relevant,
synthesising the literature, organising it by writing a draft and, finally
editing the draft.
The current research paper follows a question driven approach
(Cohen, Manion and Morrison, 2011; Creswell, 2014; Punch and Oancea,
2014). In order to respond to the research questions, deeply analyse the

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chosen empirical studies and put them in the context, a conceptual
literature review is adopted. The data collected in the form of the empirical
research articles and their analysis is presented, in order to set a theoretical
critical discussion of higher education students` time management.
In the current research paper the empirical studies on time
management will be reviewed and conceptualised. More specifically, the
concept of time management, the instruments, used to assess time
management, the relations to stress and academic performance, as well as
the time management trainings, aimed at increasing the effectiveness of
students` time use, will be reviewed. In the present research paper some
strengths and weaknesses of the research literature will be under
considerations, gaps in the existing research will be identified and some
ideas for future research will be suggested. The analysis of the empirical
research studies is presented in the form of conceptual critical discussion of
the main findings about time management in higher education for about
last thirty years. Due to a limited number of research studies available, it
seems necessary to examine and synthesise the experience of international
research.
The following databases were used to search for the research
literature:
1. DelphiS
2. Google Scholar
3. ERIC
4. Education Full Text
The following criteria for the literature search and selection were
applied:
1. The articles should be focused on the problem of higher
education students` time management;
2. The articles should be connected with measuring time
management or relating it to academic performance_/ stress or time
management training;
3. The empirical papers should be published between 1990
and 2018.
Thematic Literature Review
The Notion of Time Management in Higher Education Research
Macan, Shahani, Dipboye and Phillips (1990) were one of the first,
who underlined the fact that the concept of time management is
multidimensional, rather than unidimensional. They referred to time
management as a combination of four factors: setting goals and priorities;
scheduling and planning; perceived control of time; preference for

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disorganization. The analysis of the factors that they included in their Time
Management Behaviours Scale showed little or no correlations among
these factors, which may mean that they can be perceived as the
independent sets of time management behaviours. Similar conclusions were
made by Britton and Tesser (1991). They described time management as
the practices consisting of setting goals, prioritizing these goals,
formulating objectives derived from the goals, prioritizing them and
organizing in a list, scheduling the tasks and actually doing them. The time
management elements included were selecting and prioritising the goals, in
order to focus efforts and accomplish these goals. Nonis (1997) highlighted
the fact that time management may be referred to as a stress reducing
strategy. Previously, Macan et al. (1990) built up some of their hypotheses
based on this idea. Similar ideas were also expressed by Nonis, Hudson,
Logan and Ford (1998), who supported the claims, that time management
may be referred to as a technique to deal with stress. They also contributed
to this concept by saying that it also relates to the problem-solving ability.
They defined time management as perceived control over time, resulting
from time management behaviours, i.e. defining goals, scheduling, setting
priorities, and etc.
Zulauf and Gortner (1999) referred to time management as a
quality of study time, which is the extent to what time is managed skilfully.
They also referred to the definition of time management by Macan et al.
(1990). In addition, they drew attention to the fact that most of the previous
research studies did not include the quantity of time spent on studying, as
they believed that no matter how skilfully time is managed, so there may
be simply not enough time spent studying. Mirsa and McKean (2000)
referred to time management as the strategies that help to increase
academic performance and enhance academic achievements by starting
doing the tasks well in advance, breaking them into small parts and doing
them continuously in accordance with the developed plan. They supported
the idea of multidimensionality of time management that has initially been
expressed and suggested by Macan et al. (1991). The dimensions that
Mirsa and McKean (2000) proposed similarly to other researchers were
setting goals, making priorities, doing lists of tasks, as well as perceived
control of time. However, unlike to the previous research, they also found
it important to include preferences in organisation of the working place.
They believed that disorganisation of the things on the table may lead to
time loss, probably, resulting from the time spent on finding the necessary
things in a messy setting, although it was not clarified in the research
study.

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Kearns and Gardiner (2007) brought a new insight into the
problem of time management. They referred to time management as the
principles that help one to get awareness and control of his or her time.
Similar to the preceding research they underlined the importance of making
lists, planning ahead, as well as prioritising. Unlike the previous research
studies, they also found procrastination to be an important part of poor time
management. Kearns and Gardiner (2007) continued insisting on the
multidimensional nature of the time management concept, which is
consistent with the previous research by some other authors (e.g. Britton
and Tesser, 1991; Mirsa and McKean, 2000). However, unlike the previous
research they developed quite different factors included in time
management behaviour. They have left such important factors as
establishing purpose, planning and prioritising, although distinguished two
more: avoiding distractions and interruptions (being able to say `no` to
unnecessary, distracting offers), as well as being organised. The latter was
also highlighted by Mirsa and McKean (2000), although when it comes to
Mirsa and McKean (2000), they focused their attention only on tidiness of
the desk surface, while Kearns and Gardiner (2007) expanded it by
including such things as answering emails regularly, having a sufficient
system of filing and etc.
Cemaloglu and Filiz (2010) defined time management as the
sufficient use of available resources in a limited time, aimed at achieving
some purpose. They expanded by saying that the aim of time management
is not to increase the amount of time (which is definitely impossible and
had already been highlighted by Zulauf and Gortner (1999)), rather to
improve the use of that limited time through the enhancement of the quality
with which it is used. In contrast with other researchers, Cemaloglu and
Filiz (2010) did not equate time management and time management
behaviours, perceived control of time and etc., they perceived the latter
terms as parts of a bigger concept of time management. In their research
they distinguished three main categories or structural elements within the
time management concept: time planning, time consumers and time
attitudes. The time planning element is consistent with the previous
research and is understood as setting goals, prioritise them in a short / mid /
long-term. Under the second category of time consumers fall such things as
procrastination, irresponsibility, distraction and etc., which is also quite
consistent with the previous research, although a bit more broad and
explicit. Time attitudes were defined as aspiration to utilise time
sufficiently and consciously. They included the habits of planning and
actually doing the things that are planned. It should be highlighted that

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Cemaloglu and Filiz (2010) were the first (at least in the time management
literature connected with higher education students) in the attempt to
somehow conceptualise, theorise the concept of time management and
distinguish between the whole and the parts.
Swart, Lombard and de Jager (2010) suggested that good time
management is efficient self-organisation, scheduling, keeping files and
setting proper study routine. They stressed the importance of having a
definite plan written on a paper, as they believed that it helps to avoid
procrastination, which might prevent higher education students from
succeeding in academic environment. This idea was expressed previously,
however, in comparison with the previous research papers, they highlighted
the fact that it is not only essential to think over what one was going to do
within a limited period of time, rather it is important to have a visualised
version of one`s ideas.
Four research papers that are analysed in the current paragraph are
less explicit. Van der Meer, Jansen and Torenbeek (2010) referred to time
management as the skills that help to organise and stick to scheduled
assignments. Indreica, Cazan and Truta (2011) did not provide any
definition, although mentioned making to do lists, planning, setting
priorities, and etc. They stressed the fact that time management is an
ability, which can be improved by anybody at any time in a life. Wahat et
al. (2012) defined time management as the invention of techniques that
would increase one`s productivity. Meeuwisse, Born and Severiens (2013)
referred to time management as the sufficient use of time, aimed at
completing certain activities. These definitions are, in general, quite
consistent with the previous research. However, they prelude from making
some more concrete conclusions about the research findings presented in
the research papers, as the definitions are too broad and elusive. Nadinloyi,
Hajloo, Garamaleki and Sadeghi (2013) described time management as the
behaviours that imply efficient time use, resulting in high productivity and
low stress level. They expanded the previous research by saying that it is a
set of habits, which may be developed through learning, training and
practice. This idea is consistent with the one expressed by Indreica et al.
(2011). However, it should be taken into account that no evidence for these
suggestions was provided. They also presented a new term ‘time
management aid’, which means to-do-list and plan making, coping with
change and etc.
Al Khatib (2014) described time management as setting goals and
prioritising, in order to lower stress levels, achieve high productivity and
study effectiveness, as well as enhance academic success. In comparison

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with most of the research papers, the author`s definition concentrated more
on the effects that time management may have on a person, rather than on
what the concept itself is. He also contributed to knowledge about time
management by saying that time management is about monitoring the time
usage; he differentiated between time management and time allocation
practices. The latter ides was new and not expressed in previous research
articles. Time management in the research paper was referred to as the
extent to which a person structures time and makes it purposeful. He also
emphasised that good time management is about doing greater amount of
things in a smaller amount of time in comparison with a person with poor
time management. The previously expressed idea of the importance of
multidimensional nature of time management has been supported. For the
sake of that particular study time management was understood as short-
and long-term planning, as well as perceived control over time.
Molaee, Asadzadeh and Dortaj (2014) referred to time
management as monitoring of the way one`s time is spent and prioritising
task, aimed at enhancing one`s work efficacy. They stressed the fact that it
is almost impossible to find one definition of time management that would
cover all aspects of this broad concept. This statement raises and highlights
the problems that may be associated with researching and understanding of
what time management is: the findings that have already been, are being
and will be presented may fall into different categories, aspects of time
management. In other words, the controversial nature of the finding might
be connected with the fact that researchers look at time management from
the different sides, so there is no inconsistency in the conclusions, rather
there is lack of a pervasive, spacious approach to the problem.
Hamzah, Lucky and Joarder (2014) presented a definition focused
precisely on higher education setting, which was something that had not
been done in the previous research literature. They described time
management as a student`s ability to allocate time aimed at improving
academic achievements and, as a result, achieving academic success. They
distinguished between time management, time management skills and time
management techniques. The latter was referred to as an effective
distribution of time among course materials, prioritising and being focused
on the tasks that are essential to succeed in a particular module. They
described some time management techniques that are going to be discussed
in Chapter 5 of the present research paper. Hamzah et al. (2014) suggested
that lack of time management skills prevent students from academic
success.

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The next three research papers did not express their understanding
of the notion of time management very explicitly. Unfortunately, Siddiqi
and Memon (2016) neither provided their own definition of time
management, nor gave a reference to preceding research literature.
However, they raised an important issue, connected with such an acute
problem as internet addiction, which is definitely a time-consuming habit
and which leads to poor time management and results in poor academic
performance. Ganguly, Kulkarni and Gupta (2017) described time
management as a set of behaviours, such as short- and long-term planning,
as well as setting goals, that help to achieve sufficient use of time. Aggar,
Bloomfield, Frotjold, Thomas and Koo (2018) referred to time
management as an ability to effectively perform at work or study, which
means being able to prioritise and plan within daily routine. Both of the
research papers provided the definitions that highlight the points that have
been covered by the preceding research literature, analysed in this part of
the chapter.
The Time Management Measures in Higher Education Research
Literature
In general, in most research studies self-report instruments
(quantitative) were used to measure time management, as well as the
outcome variables. Several research articles implemented qualitative
approach in the form of diaries (e.g. Zulauf and Gortner, 1999) and a
couple of researchers conducted experimental research, connected with
time management trainings (e.g. Indreica et al., 2011; Nadinloyi et al,
2013; and etc.). However, the effectiveness of the trainings was assessed
through the results of the same instruments at the beginning and the end of
the experiments. There are several main tools that were mostly used to
measure time management in the selected research literature. They are the
following:
1. The Time Management Behaviour Scale by Macan, Shahani,
Dipboye and Phillips (1990) were used in 8 studies, excluding the study by
Macan et al. (1990);
2. The Time Management Questionnaire by Britton and Tesser
(1991) were used in 5 studies, excluding the study by Britton and Tesser
(1991);
3. The rest of the research papers either used other existing
instruments or developed their own.
But for determining multidimensionality of time management,
Macan, et al. (1990) also highlighted that ‘no systematic attempts to
develop a psychometrically sound measure to assess conventional time

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management behaviours had been made’ (p 761) by the time of the
conduction of their research. Macan, et al. (1990) were aimed at
developing the scale that would be closely connected with the conventional
time management behaviours and their dimensions, rather than time
structure (e.g. Feather and Bond, 1983) or feelings about one`s future like
it was done previously. The developed Time Management Behaviour Scale
covered such aspects (factors) of time management as setting goals and
priorities, planning and scheduling, perceived control of time, and one`s
preference for disorganisation. It should be underlined that they did not
assess personal perceptions towards the importance of time management
behaviours, only if they were used at all.
The Time management Behaviours Scale was created on the basis
of the understanding of time management expressed by the popular
literature. It contained 46 items to which students could response from 0 to
4, seldom true to very often true respectively. Initially there were 76 items,
although non-contributing items were excluded. The Time Management
Behaviour Scale was tested with a sample of undergraduate and Masters of
Business Administration students. The internal consistency for the Time
Management Behaviour Scale in the study of Macan et al. (1990) was quite
high – 0.83. They presented the evidence of reliability for the total scale, as
well as for the sub-scales. There were a number of other researchers that
used the Time Management Behaviours Scale to assess higher education
students` time management (e.g. Zulauf and Gortner, 1999; Mirsa and
McKean, 2000 and etc.) and there were a lot of adaptations of this
measurement instrument, as well as translations into other languages. The
internal consistency for most of the studies conducted with the use of the
Time Management Behaviour Scale was either the same or even higher
(e.g. Mirsa and McKean, 2000). For instance, Zulauf and Gortner (1999)
used a time diary survey in combination with the Time Management
Behaviour Scale by Macan et al. (1990), which helped them to obtain more
reliable results. There was one week survey period, which was field tested.
It included class and home study time, eating, sleeping, working,
travelling, calls, watching TV, leisure, student activities, personal hygiene,
and etc. The participants were the students of the introductory course in
agricultural economics (freshman and senior students); agribusiness
management (sophomores and seniors); policy course in agricultural
economics (seniors). The data had been collected the week of first mid-
term, in order to avoid any outer circumstances connected with adaptation
at the beginning and exam period at the end. The results of the research
revealed that the coefficients for the scale were quite stable.

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Similarly to Macan et al. (1990), Britton and Tesser (1991) created
an instrument with a number of sub-categories (factors in the research
paper by Macan et al. (1990)), which included the following: short-range
planning, time attitudes and long-range planning. The measures of time
management included: choosing goals, prioritizing, formulating tasks
derived from goals, prioritizing tasks and organizing in a list, scheduling
tasks and doing them. Again, the 5-point response scale was used: from 0
to 5, from always to never respectively. The sample was comprised by
undergraduate students, who studied psychology. The Time Management
Questionnaire, in comparison with the Time Management Behaviour Scale,
was not based on the popular literature, but grounded in the time
management theory: it was created on the basis of the research about
computer operating system (Britton and Tesser, 1991). The researchers
suggested that students, similarly to computer operating system, get the
task, distribute and carry out them. However, it should be highlighted that
the measurement instrument might be invalid due to the limited number of
items (from 5 to 7 in each section), which can lead to the wrong
interpretations of the results. In addition, Britton and Tesser (1991) in their
research paper provided the evidence for reliability of the total score, but
no evidence was presented for each factor.
Despite the fact that there are some issues connected with the
evidence, both of the instruments are widely used and associated with high
validity and reliability. For instance, the Time Management Behaviour
Scale (Macan et al., 1990) showed low levels of reliability for sub-scales,
however, in the later studies the reliability of sub-scales was much higher
(e.g. Mirsa and McKean, 2000). At the same time, the Time Management
Questionnaire (Britton and Tesser, 1991) is less valid due to a small
number of items in it.
The Importance of Time Management for Higher Education
Students
One of the pioneers in the attempt to determine the correlational
relationships of time management with academic performance and stress
were Macan, Shahani, Dipboye and Phillips (1990). They highlighted that
before inventing time management training, aimed at reducing stress level
and enhancing academic performance through the development of higher
education students` time management, it is important to determine if there
are any relationships between these variables at all. Macan, et al. (1990)
measured the following factors of stress: role ambiguity; role overload;
job-induced and somatic tensions; job / study and life satisfaction. While
the performance was comprised by self-reported grade point average and

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self-reported performance ratings (performance compared to other students
– how the students themselves felt about their academic attainment in the
light of peers` performance). The results of the research revealed that some
correlations between time management, academic performance and stress
definitely exist. However, it should be highlighted that the time
management factors, included in the study, had different degree of
influence on the mentioned variables. For instance, people, who engaged in
time management behaviours more frequently, felt / thought that their
performance was high, while their peers, who did not practice use of time
management techniques, had a feeling that they perform not really well. In
addition, first group felt clearer about their role in life and future.
Practicing time management was also associated with lower levels of
stress: feeling in control over time helped to perceive less physical and
psychological somatic tensions. Interestingly, making to do lists and
prioritising, which are typically associated with time management, did not
show significant correlational relationships.
Britton and Tesser (1991) similarly to Macan et al. (1990) stressed
the fact that there is a correlational relationship between time management
and academic attainment. Unexpectedly, the Scholastic Aptitude Test score
showed almost no relationship with time management or students` college
performance, which means that the high or low Scholastic Aptitude Test
score does not necessarily mean high or low grade point average at college
respectively. It turned out that short-term planning and time attitudes
factors contributed significantly to students` academic performance, while,
unpredictably, long-term planning did not show any statistical difference in
regard with grade point average. This interesting finding may be explained
by the fact that higher education setting with such attributes as semesters,
modules, assignments and etc., provides students with more opportunities
for short-term planning. For instance, taking into account the fact students
have several modules within one semester and accordingly particular
requirements for each module and subject knowledge to study, preludes
them from thinking strategically, rather they develop some tactics of
coping with the current tasks, problems and needs, which seems more
purposeful. Students are usually given tasks for a week rather than one task
for the semester, so they simply do not need this kind of planning, and
when it comes to exams they would usually have a limited amount of time
for revising the materials. However, when it comes to long-term planning,
their main goal might be to graduate from a university or college, so they
do not need to revise it regularly. The research was long-term (the duration
of a collage program – 4 years), the data that has been collected is more

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objective as they based on high school Scholastic Aptitude Test as well as
the cumulative grade point average (for each student) obtained during
collage.
The data collection process was good in terms of the fact that the
objective performance data was obtained from Scholastic Aptitude Test
and grade point average; however as far as time management is concerned,
the data was obtained only at the beginning of the college studies. As the
correlation coefficient between grade point average and Scholastic
Aptitude Test is very low, it may be suggested that the time management
practices may have changed during college studies. This may be the reason
for the authors stating: ‘…the effects of tm are independent of SAT score
and, in this particular study, even stronger than the effects of SAT score’.
However this conclusion may be important in terms of how students are
accepted to universities. The researchers provide with an explanation that
the subjects were psychology course students which could have affected
the difference between the assessment of general knowledge (Scholastic
Aptitude Test) and subject specific knowledge (grade point average). This
is also an argument in favour of researching and comparing time
management abilities at different faculties and departments.
Nonis (1997) consistently with previous research determined some
relationships of time management with stress and academic performance,
as well as the relationship of academic performance with academic stress.
Stress was referred to as human`s behaviour, reaction or emotional
response, either positive or negative, to threatening or challenging events.
Referring to previous studies the researchers differentiated different types
of stress; for instance, academic, environmental and monetary/family.
Perceived control over time showed statistically stronger relationship with
stress and performance than other factors of time management. In addition,
perceived academic performance was also associated with the higher
degrees of perceived control of time. Nonis, Hudson, Logan and Ford
(1998) presented the findings, revealing that time management related to
stress and stress-related outcomes: feeling in control over time reduced the
stress levels. In contrast with the previous research they did not find
statistically significant evidence to the suggestion that time management
behaviours influence higher education students` academic performance,
they proposed that they might be correlated indirectly through the
perceived control of time. The initial hypothesis was that the relationship
was linear, while it could be curvilinear. After an additional check the
latter suggestion was supported for stress and performance relation, but not
for time management and stress relationship.

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Drawing on the literature evidence Zulauf and Gortner (1999)
expressed the idea that the amount of time students spend on studying
matters and influence students` academic performance. They also underline
the fact that not only time matters, but also the way, i.e. quality as they
state, it is spent. They suggested that quantity of time might also be
important, which was something that previous time management research
lacked. The amount of time studying influenced expected (hoped) grade
point average, and class meeting time, as well as real grade point average.
However, grade point average was not influenced significantly. Zulauf and
Gortner (1999) concluded that time management may influence
performance. They also underlined the fact that the recommended time was
1 to 2 – class to home study time respectively, however, the actual ratio
was 1:0.75, which may mean that students do not devote enough time for
self-studying, but the authors underlined that all in all the amount of time
that student spend on studying was close to average time that people spend
working. They also underlined the fact that probably it is impossible to
increase the study time, as students are extremely busy even in the current
situation. Therefore, time management becomes even more important.
Mirsa and McKean (2000) provided support for the hypothesis that lack of
time management negatively influences higher education students`
perceived academic stress. They highlighted the fact that only one aspect of
time management had statistically significant correlation with stress. This
component was perceived control of time, which is consistent with the
preceding research. However, they stressed the fact that the preferences in
organising one`s place also seemed to have a stress-reducing effect.
Kearns and Gardiner (2007) concluded that students, who engage
more frequently in time management, have a higher perceived effectiveness
and a lower perceived stress level. Based on the idea of the
multidimensional nature of time management expressed by Macan et al.
(1990), they suggested that, in general, all dimensions have some impact
on stress and stress-related outcomes, although the degree of that influence
is different for each factor. Thus, they suggested the following hierarchy
(from higher degree of influence to lower): clear goals and purpose;
planning and prioritising; ability to avoid distractions; being organised.
The fact that the factors have a different degree of influence was also
expressed by Macan et al. (1990), however, there was research that would
develop the hierarchy, so the idea expressed by Kearns and Gardiner
(2007) was quite new. Cemaloglu and Filiz (2010) in their research on time
management presented the evidence that students` academic performance is
influenced by the students` ability to plan and use of time consumers;

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although, in contrast with the previous research, they did not find a strong
correlation between time management and time attitudes. Swat, Lombard
and de Jager (2010) in their case study supported the initial idea that time
management may impact higher education students` time management
skills. They researched this topic at a deeper level by determining the time
management techniques that successful students used. While Van der Meer
and Torenbeek (2010) underlined and stressed the fact that most of first
year students reported that they lacked time management skills, which later
resulted in poor academic achievements.
Indreica, Cazan and Truta (2011) conducted an experimental
research, aimed at improving higher education students` academic results
through improvement of their time management skills. The results showed
that higher academic performance was associated with higher levels of time
management. Time management affected the way students approached
their task: the time they spent on the tasks decreased and their motivation
increased. This effect was even more obvious when it comes to more
sophisticated tasks that required more continuous effort. Wahat et al.
(2012) consistently with the previous research concluded that time
management might be one of the factors that affect students` academic
performance and academic stress. However, they underline the fact that the
correlation seems to be not very significant. In contrast, Nadinloyi, Hajloo,
Garamleki and Sadeghi (2013) as a result of their experimental research
concluded that students who apply time management strategies had better
grades, than the students, who underestimate them. This means that time
management might be one of predictors of academic performance at a
university or college, although the controversial nature of the findings in
different studies makes it difficult to make some concrete conclusions.
Meeuwisse, Born and Severiens (2013) did not find a direct
correlation between time management and academic performance.
However, they hypothesised that this link might be indirect, which is
consistent with previous research and which might be an explanation for
the inconsistent result of the previously discussed research studies. They
suggested that one factor of time management – preference for organisation
– may be the one that links academic performance with the rest factors.
They proposed that students, who are able to organise their study place and
learning process, manage to obtain deeper knowledge and, as a result, have
a deeper understanding of the subject knowledge, which results in better
grades. Consistent with the previous research they also underlined the fact
that on an average week students spent more time on leisure and sport than
they do on learning. In contrast with that on the week before exams they

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increased their study time on 40 percent. No difference was found between
high and low performers in terms of the way they prioritise their time,
setting goals and strategies, which are applied to manage time.
Al Khatib (2014) consistently with previous research determined
strong correlation between higher education students` time management
and academic performance. Thus, the higher time management skills
students show, the better they perform. They also found a significant
relationship between time management and perceived stress. They
suggested that time management helps to illuminate time constrains and, as
a result, stress connected with it. This also supports the hypothesis that lack
of time management skills results in stress, connected with the lack of time,
last minute preparation and etc., which leads to the low academic results.
Molaee, Asadzadeh and Dortaj (2014) presented the findings that are
connected with the influence of time management training on academic
performance. They concluded that with improvement of time management
in the intervention students’ academic achievements improved in each
undertaken module. Hamzah, Lucky and Joarder (2014) also determined a
significant correlation between time management and academic
achievements of students. They revealed that the improvement of higher
education students` time management skills affects not only the quantity of
studying, but also the quality of learning. Time management prevents
students from last minute cramming for exams, which improves their
knowledge through obtaining a deeper understanding of the material.
Siddiqi and Memon (2016) raised an acute problem of time-
consumers and concluded that internet addiction among students affects the
way students allocate their time, which results in poor academic
performance. In contrast with the previous research, they found a direct
correlation between time management and academic performance. Aggar,
Bloomfield, Astrid, Frotjold, Thomas and Koo (2017) revealed a strong
correlation between time management and knowledge based performance.
Similarly Gangly, Kulkarni and Gupta (2017) believed that time
management is correlated to academic performance through students`
motivation. Thus, students, who manage their time, somehow manage to
stay motivated and, as a result, perform better. They also underlined the
fact that students who tend to organise their time usually set higher grade
goals as a result of planning. The higher grade goals help them to achieve
better academic results, as they stay focused on the desirable marks and
follow the plan that helps them to achieve the desirable results. The
planning makes students to keep tracking the tasks and the time spent on

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them, which leads to the decrease of stress levels. All above mentioned
resulted in general students` well-being.
The Development of Higher Education Students` Time
Management
In the research paper by Macan, Shahani, Dipboye and Phillips
(1990) the analysis of the results showed that time management behaviours
led to the decrease of the stress related outcomes and the increase of self-
reported performance. A positive correlation between attending seminars
was found, however reading books or attending a time management
workshop did not have any significant effects. On the other hand, no
relationship was found between attending seminars on time management
and academic performance and the stress-related factors. It means that after
attending such seminars people really did engage in time management,
although their academic attainment and stress level were not affected.
Macan, Shahani, Dipboye and Phillips (1990) questioned conclusions
connected with the role of time management training in the enhancement of
academic performance and stress reduction: ‘Perhaps training by means of
a manual or seminar can change time spent on certain activities, but it is
not clear that training reduces stress or improves overall performance’ (p.
760). Britton and Tesser (1991) believed that not all time management
skills were important, for instance, long-term planning, as it was quite
obvious that it would not be possible for students to have long-term plans
due to the university setting, where there are semesters and mostly short-
term planning is necessary. They also raised the question of how the
quality of trainings might be assessed: to what extent the trainings teach
the time management skills that students do really need (e.g. short-term
planning).
Nonis (1997) underlined the fact that university personnel should
be aware of some simple strategies that would help students to reduce
stress in the academic environment and be able to consult students. They
should support students by ensuring that they can control their time and not
making them threatened. The teachers may help students by managing
assignments within the modules: ‘instructors can schedule exams,
assignments, and projects at regular intervals rather than having a few
major exams (e.g., mid-term and a final), assignments, or projects’ (p. 31).
They also supported the idea of subdividing the assignments and projects
into smaller tasks with separate deadlines. Such approach will make
students to keep doing assignment throughout the module, avoid
procrastination and help them not to leave assignments till last moment.
This will be beneficial for all students, but specially for the once who did

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not yet come up with their own techniques of managing time, and result in
higher perceived control of time. It will also help students to engage in
studies more frequently, thus improve knowledge of the subject and result
in higher academic performance. It has also been suggested that the
detailed syllabus with the deadlines, exams and the due dates for the topics
should be given to students. It will help them to see the whole picture and
follow the syllabus, rather than trying to create their own. An adequate
time should be given to prepare for exam or right an assignment.
Teachers need to help students to realize how well they spend
time, as even if a student has good time management, but perceives that he
does not have control over the situation, it will still lead to stress.
Therefore, it is important that students keep a record of their time being
managed and have an opportunity to discuss and evaluate it with a personal
academic tutor. They also stated that stress coming from poor time
management is one of the reasons for students` probation and drop outs.
Nonis, Hudson, Logan and Ford (1998) underlined the fact that higher
education personnel need to pay more attention to stress reducing strategies
such as time management. They also stressed the fact that personnel should
be in a position to be able to provide students with some recommendations,
which will lead to increase of students` retention. Student counselling
centres also may take it into account. In consistence with the previous
research, they underlined the fact that college or university is ‘their first
experience in managing life`s demands’ (p. 602), and inability to manage
time may lead to hopelessness and bad experience, as a result to
procrastination, skipping classes, cheating and finally drop out. Therefore,
students need support and help in establishment of time management
behaviours.
Zulauf and Gortner (1999) determined that students study less time
studying outside classroom. Thus, it is important to underline this fact and
teachers should put the emphasis on self-study time, make students track
the time they spent learning. While Mirsa and McKean (2000) suggested
that educators should promote students to participate in time management
seminars and explain the role of time management for higher education
students.
Kearns and Gardiner (2007) stressed the importance of setting
clear goals, identifying important areas of the module and focus on them,
rather that reorganising their notes or reading everything from the
beginning till end. It is necessary to study regularly and set short and long
term study plans. It is also important to illuminate distractions and to
organise particular study time during the day and try to stick to it, as well

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as try to organise study materials efficiently. They have also provided a
table with practical recommendations on managing one`s time. Education
counsellors, teachers and students may find extremely useful and quite easy
to use. The instructions in the table are subdivided into four categories:
essential, very useful, and somewhat useful, as well as may be helpful.
Essentials meant having a particular purpose when studying and included a
several questions to help students to determine whether the activity
purposeful and necessary at some particular moment of their life. Planning
and prioritising was a very useful section and included some steps that help
to allocate time between different sorts of activities. Somewhat useful
section helped to illuminate interruptions and distractions and advised to
study in a quiet place, to choose some study time during the day, to avoid
mobile usage, when studying, and etc. Being organised was allocated to
may be helpful section and suggested some tools that would help to
organise learning.
Swart, Lombard and de Jager (2010) determined eight tools that
were the most effective for managing time in higher education
environment. Among these tools were the following: creating a study plan
and outlining a well-developed schedule; revising the schedule; applying
time planner; making list of tasks and assignments and checking out the
ones that are done; organising the study materials; organising a particular
study time and place; trying to study for a certain time and making breaks
regularly; and beginning to work on assignments well before deadlines.
They suggested that these tools may help to manage students` time and
illuminate procrastination.
Van der Meer, Jansen and Torenbeek (2010) concluded that time
management is the issue of great concern for students in general, but first
year students find especially difficult to come up with some time
management techniques. This conclusion is consistent with previous
research. Moreover, the authors provided the research evidence, stating that
before entering the university students were quite objective in their
expectations about the amount of time that they would have to devote to
class study, as well as self-study time. They were ready for it, however,
once they faced the reality, they realised that their understanding was not
really enough; they also required some skills and strategies that would help
them to cope with this university reality. They suggested that developing
time management skills is not only students` responsibility as it was
previously thought, rather it is the university`s responsibility to provide
students with these study skills as part of adaptation process. In addition,
the same idea was expressed by Indreica, Cazan and Truta (2011), who had

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undertaken the experimental research, aimed at determining if it is possible
to improve students` academic achievements through time management
program. In consistence with the previous research they found the evidence
for the hypothesis. Wahat et al. (2012) also revealed that computer based
scheduling had a significant influence on the wat students manage time.
Thus, students, who use computer to allocate their time between tasks,
seem to have a better track of their time and deadlines and, as a result, have
better performance, compared to the students, who underestimate the
convenience of computer usage for organising their schedule. The
advantage of computer is that computer planner reminds students about
upcoming deadlines and students start preparing for exams or doing
assignments well in advance before the deadlines.
Discussion
The notion of time management. The rigorous analysis of the
research literature showed that it is quite complicated to define the notion
of ‘time management’, as the concept of time management is
multidimensional. The researchers are unable to come to an agreement
about one definition that will fully reflect the multidimensional nature of
time management and cover all aspects of this broad concept. The existing
definitions provided in the research literature may be grouped into the
following categories:
1) Time management behaviours / skills / abilities
2) Perceived control over time / perceived time management
/ stress coping strategy
3) The effects of poor / good time management;
4) And etc.
Most of the authors associated time management with planning
(short- / mid- / long-term), setting tasks, making priorities, scheduling, and
etc. A number of research papers referred to time management as a
technique, skill, ability, behaviour or strategy, which seems to be less
abstract and more concrete in comparison with defining, what is good or
bad time management and what lack of it can result in, in other words the
effects of time management on students. In general, it is possible to
summarise, unite and generalise the great amount of definitions by saying
that time management is an effective utilisation or structuring of time. It
should be taken into account that there are also some terms (for instance,
‘time management techniques’, ‘time management behaviours’, ‘time
attitudes’ and etc.) that are used in the same meaning as time management.
The worrying amount of the research literature underestimates the
importance of distinguishing between the parts that constitute time

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management, i.e. time management skills, time management strategies,
time management behaviours, and etc. This may be one of the reasons for
inconsistent, varied finding presented by the research literature, as the
finding might be not inconsistent, rather they might reflect different parts
of the same broad concept. There are a number of factors / elements that
constitute the concept of time management. They may differ from one
research paper to the other; however, most of researchers tend to
differentiate the following: perceived control of time or time attitudes; time
planning; time consumers or procrastination; setting goals and priorities;
and etc. The analysis also showed that there is lack of theoretical
knowledge that could be associated with time management.
Based on the current review the following definition could be
formulated: time management is the way a student structures and utilises
his or her time. Time management consists of time management behaviour,
time management skills and time management tools. Time management
behaviour is the consistency with which a student engages in time
management, while time management skills are the techniques that are
utilised to increase the efficiency of time use. Time management tools are
the instruments that could be used to structure time more effectively. In the
research literature the following instruments were mentioned: to-do-list;
paper weekly planners; paper diaries; and computer-based calendars. When
conducting the new research, it would also be reasonable to add some other
tools, as nowadays people use some more advanced technologies to plan
their activities: e-diaries and e-planners, as well as some apps could also be
included in the future research. But for the problems of defining time
management and determining what constitutes this concept, it was not
possible to find research literature that would explain the way time
management works. In other words, the literature describes only the
effects, but not the mechanism of time management. In most research
papers, time management was assessed only once at the beginning or the
end of the research, it would have been reasonable to do it at least twice
that is why more long-term research is needed.
The time management measures in higher education research
literature. The analysis of the instruments that are aimed at measuring time
management showed that despite the fact that there are some reliable and
valid instruments, more research is needed to examine them, as well as
some improvements and adaptations might be necessary. There is also a
necessity to replicate the research, using these instruments, with a bigger
sample. There are a number of issues that are connected with the items
used in the instruments assessing time management. Setting goals may not

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always mean their fulfilment, although the instruments mostly assess the
ability of a person to set goals. There are only several questions that help to
assess if the person fulfil the plans and feels the control over the time in the
Time Management Behaviour Scale by Macan et al. (1990): ‘…check off
each task as it is accomplished.’ (p 766); ‘The items making up Factor 3
reflect the extent to which one believes he or she can affect how time is
spent.’ (p. 761) and etc. In comparison with Macan et al. (1990) more
rigorous evaluation of the instruments is presented by Britton and Tesser
(1991). They take into account the fact that students might want to present
themselves in a more favourable way when answering the questions. They
underline the fact that it is not a bad skill especially when it comes to
presenting themselves in a favourable light in front of the teacher during
oral exam pretending to be more knowledgeable than students who are
cleverer but shyer. This may be an explanation for spurious nature of the
relationships between variables, rather than casual for some research
evidence. So it should be taken into account. However, in this case social
desirability can explain only a part of the group, or be the variable that
predicts performance, so further research is needed to test this hypothesis.
Although the quality of time management instrument might be
questioned, still there are at least two (to some extent) reliable and valid
time management instruments, which are still used in the present day
research: the Time Management Behaviour Scale (Macan et al., 1990) and
the Time Management Questionnaire (Britton and Tesser, 1991). More
objective instruments are necessary in combination with the existing ones;
for instance, few research papers used diaries and none of them used
observations. Many other researchers used not only students` self-reported
time management behaviours, but also performance that comprised self-
reported grade point average and quality of academic attainment. It is not
possible to rely only on self-reported data: for instance, in the study by
Macan et al. (1990) Factor 1 was correlated strongly with perceived
performance, while grade point average showed a weaker relation. Another
example is factor 4, which had a stronger relation with grade point average
than with self-reported performance. Probably the solution to the problem
might be to collect different kinds of data for more objective results: self-
reported performance; grade point average; teacher-reported performance
(which may mean the teacher`s perceptions about the students). It seems
that the scale itself represents the feelings, perceptions of students rather
than the behaviours. So it may be connected with ability to control oneself,
ability to stay calm when working to tight deadlines and working under
pressure, or it may also be connected with self-esteem. Perceived control of

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time correlates with stress-related variables at a higher level than the rest
factors in most of the literature under considerations; however the question
is to what extent it is connected with time management. Most of the
researchers did not provide much information about the variety of
academic majors which may be important as the students from a particular
faculty may have a habit of structuring everything not time only and vice
versa (maths students and humanitarian faculty students respectively).
The relationship of students` time management with stress and
academic performance. Time management has been researched in relation
to higher education students` academic achievement and stress. The
research literature presents controversial findings in relation to academic
performance. Some research papers managed to find the direct connection
of time management with academic performance, while other researchers
could not find sufficient evidence for such relationships. However, there
might be an explanation for such mixed findings: some research articles
suggested that the relationship of time management with academic
achievement might be not linear. In other words, time management might
help students to reduce the perceived level of stress through the perceived
control of time, resulted from planning; the feeling of having control over
situation gave more confidence to students and, as a result, they can better
concentrate on studying, which leads to better academic attainment.
Another possible explanation for the mixed findings might be connected
with the problem of defining time management with the problems of the
measurement instruments. For instance, different research instruments were
created different dimensions of the concept of time management, thus, the
evidence found might be reasonable for one factor (dimension) of time
management (e.g. use of time management tools – diaries, to-do- lists, and
ect.), but not the other (procrastination). More replications of the research
are necessary in different educational settings (different faculties and
departments, for instance) with involvement of a variety of bigger samples,
in order to test and generalise the theory.
No attempt was made to determine the cause-and-effect
relationships between the outcome variables and time management. Macan
et al. (1990) stated that it was an early stage of researching this topic,
however there is still no research that would have done it despite the fact
that almost 30 years have passed. The strongest correlation of stress with
time management was found in perceived control of time; however it seems
that this factor is more stress related. All stress outcomes are correlated, so
no wonder that perceived control of time is among them. As for the rest
they show less obvious results, so there is a possibility that perceived

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control of time might be not a part of time management, rather it could be
the outcome variable. However, this is just a suggestion and more research
is needed. Nonis (1997) differentiated between perceived and objective
stress, similarly there may be some perceived and objective control of time.
Future research may try to shed light on these suggestions. In case time
management is only a technique that influences stress and performance
through perceived control of time, then maybe there are some others that
would suite other people. More research is necessary to determine other
factors and their degree of influence on stress among students.
The development of higher education students` time management.
The research studies under discussion presented controversial findings. On
the one hand, after participation in time management trainings students
practiced time management more often. However, not all research studies
found the sufficient evidence for the hypothesis that it is possible to
influence students’ academic performance through time management
training. The past research literature shows that self-reported time
management increased after participation in time management trainings. In
general, time management trainings might influence the way people spend
their time, which helps students to avoid procrastination and decrease the
level of stress, although it was quite complicated to determine the effects of
time management on the performance, which might be explained by
following: as any skill time management should be practice. In other
words, after the attendance of the training students might gain an
understanding about how to use the techniques, however, there is a
possibility that some time is required before students will be able to fully
use the skills acquired and before the results will become obvious. No
research has been conducted to study long-term effects of time
management trainings. Higher education establishments should take into
account the recommendations of the research literature and think of taking
responsibilities for the development of students` time management and
perceive it as part of study skills. The evidence presented by the research
literature is not always explicit: most of the research papers present only
the results of their experiments and provide little details, concerning the
time management trainings themselves (e.g. Molaee el al., 2013, and etc.).
Only one research paper (Indreica et al., 2011) described in details what
kind of assistance was offered to students. There are also some problems,
connected with the extent to which different time management trainings
train the same dimention of time management. As the concept of time
management is multidimensional, probably it is possible that time
management consists of a number of skills. For instance, a person may

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know how to do short-term planning, but not being able to set long-range
goals.
Implications and limitations.
The findings of the current research have implications for both
higher education policy and practice. Researching time management by
reviewing the empirical literature may lead to better understanding of the
concept of time management. By analysing the empirical research, it is
possible to draw the attention of university educators and policy makers to
the importance of time management for higher education students and
provide them with an overview of the main strategies to develop time
management in a higher education setting. Thus, there is a necessity to
draw the attention of educators and policy makers to the fact that maybe it
is not only students` responsibility to deal with time management,
especially when it comes to first year students. Teachers and educators, in
their turn, may enable students with practical tips on how to manage time,
in order to succeed in a university or college and experience less physical
and mental harm related to stress. More research is needed to determine the
role of higher educational establishments in the way students spend and
organise their time. It could be hypothesised that continuous assessment
could be one of the tools of influence that colleges and universities could
use. The attention has already been drawn to the problem of internet
addiction and its influence on time management. However, more research
is necessary to explore these issues.
Future research should study the concept of time management in
more detail. This review seems to provide quite consistent
recommendations with the research conducted by Nonis (1997), who
underlined the importance of researching the influence of the demographic
data such as major, GPA, level of study, marital status, age and etc. Little
attention has also been paid to external factor that might influence higher
education students` time management. For instance, students are still
dependent on their parents, which means that they cannot plan their time on
their own, they have got to check the plans with their parent. Another
example might be connected with the time table of lectures and seminars: it
is obvious that students have different prime times (the time of the day
when they can work more effective). More research is necessary to assess
some external factors that might influence time management. Strategies
reducing stress should be researched more. It is apparent that most of the
research studies concentrated on planning, although little attention was
paid to bringing plans to life. So the measurement instruments that will
assess the planned and actually completed work should be developed. The

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possible limitation of the current research could be that when analysing the
time management measures it was not possible to assess them, due to
absence of the scales and questionnaires, and etc. The conclusions are
based on the limited information given in the research articles or
suggestions made by the authors of other research papers, which used the
tools. As for the methodological voids, it should be taken into account that
little research has been conducted to follow the dynamic of students` time
management. Apart from quantitative research, more qualitative and mixed
methods research should be conducted. If the idea that time management
has an indirect effect on stress and performance (through perceived control
of the situation) then time management may be perceived as placebo: it
will work with people who really believe and will not help the ones who
are sceptic. More research is necessary to provide evidence for this
hypothesis.
Macan, Shahani, Dipboye and Phillips, 1990 tried to link time
management behaviours to the Type-A-B personality dimension. Only
setting goals and priorities is more typical for A type people. The rest is the
same for both types. It should be highlighted that Type A-B personality
affected such stress-related factors as role ambiguity, role overload, job
tensions, somatic tension, and had less strong correlation though still
comparatively strong, with self-reported rating, which was not analysed,
but reported in the article. However, it seems important, as it may mean
that a person simply does not manage time because it is no typical to his or
her personality. It would be interesting to observe people growing and
determine the factors that influenced how they managed time throughout
the life. There is only small amount of research papers that were aimed at
determining long-term effect of time management on higher education
students, so more longitude research is necessary. Time management
behaviours are closely connected with age. Women are better in managing
their time. However, it did not mean that they felt control over time.
Morning people engage more frequently in time management (Macan et al,
1990). The more role demands students showed the more psychological
and physical tension they felt, students who had less ambiguity or less life
demands experienced more study, job and life satisfaction. Prime time
influences time management, morning people engage in time management
more often, than night people. More research is necessary to determine the
relationship of time management with demographic factors.
Conclusion
The current research paper sought to conceptualise empirical
research literature on higher education students` time management. Despite

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the fact that the problem of time management in higher education is being
researched for about thirty years, still there is paucity of literature, as well
as there are a number of issues that should be resolved. Even though the
term `time management` is widely used by popular, as well as research
literature, there is no agreement about one definition of time management,
as it is a broad and multidimensional concept. In addition, research
literature does not provide clear apprehension of what constitutes time
management. In the current research, based on the existing empirical
research studies, a new definition of the term ‘time management’ has been
introduced, as well as an attempt to differentiate between the whole and the
parts of this broad concept. There is a possibility that time management,
used in different settings, might have different meaning, as the techniques
used to allocate time in a university setting might differ from the ones used
at work. The future research might find these findings to be useful for
building a theoretical framework for researching time management in
general and in higher education setting in particular.
As far as the instruments that help to measure time management
are concerned, consistently with the previous empirical time management
research papers, as well as the previous reviews of time management
literature, the Time Management Behaviours Scale by Macan et al. (1990)
and Time Management Questionnaire by Britten and Tesser (1991) seem to
be most popular and show the highest validity and reliability. However, it
should be taken into account that probably it is necessary either to improve
the existing measurement instruments or to create new instruments that will
satisfy the demands of the new reality of the twenty first century. For
instance, it is highly likely that nowadays there are less people, who use
paper diaries, and more people, who use their mobile phones to organise
their daily life. The future research should take it into account and might
study the difference and effectiveness of these time management tools.
The rigorous analysis of the research literature showed that time
management might play an important role in lives of higher education
students. The findings of the past research papers are quite consistent in
providing the evidence for justification of the positive correlations of time
management with higher education students` academic achievements and
stress. Although the relationships of higher education students` time
management with academic attainment and stress level is not linear, still
time management has a particular level of influence on the outcome
variables. There is a possibility that the mediator variable could be
perceived control over time, as the research literature under consideration
showed that higher education students, who have a feeling that they control

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their time (as a result of use of time management), cope with university
education better and have higher marks, in comparison with their peers,
who do not practice time management and perceive less control of time.
However, more research is needed to prove this hypothesis. Higher
education teachers and counsellors, as well as students should be informed
about these possible effects of time management.
Time management trainings seem to improve the way higher
education students spend their time: students, who attended time
management trainings, engage in time management more often in
comparison with their peers, who did not attend any trainings. In order to
promote effective and sustainable change at the level of higher education,
there is a need for creating and sustaining higher education time
management assistance, which could involve induction, sessions and
organisational structures that will be responsive to students` needs for time
management. Higher education establishments should get an understanding
that it is not only students` responsibilities to manage their time properly,
but also universities, in their turn, should provide students with time
management training as part of study skills, as well as organise the
education in the way to prevent procrastination and last minute preparation,
which may lead to better knowledge acquisition and higher academic
results.
The suggestions and directions for future research, as well as
practice are provided in the current research paper. It is obvious that more
research is needed for a better understanding of the issue. The
understanding of what constitutes time management may lead to
improvement of time management measurement instruments, which, in its
turn, will help to develop more effective time management trainings. As far
as practice is concerned, the current conceptual review of time
management literature might be used to enable higher education teachers,
educators and policy makers with a logically structured report of the main
issues connected with higher education students` time management. In
particular, practitioners may get an understanding of what is time
management, why it is important for higher education students, how to
measure students` time management and how to influence the way students
spend their time, as well as develop their time management through the use
of the trainings specially designed to enhance the use of time management
techniques.

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