Sooner or Later: How Temporal Distance Influences Decisions and Dynamics within Organizations

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Despite an increased interest in the effects of temporal distance on outcomes relevant to management scholarship, there is still much to understand about the way in which it affects processes and outcomes both at the individual and team level. This symposium advances current knowledge about temporal distance by addressing a few important gaps in the literature. The first two papers deepen our understanding of how temporal distance affects a) the way people process information when making important decisions, such as health decisions and b) the way people assess risk associated with innovation behaviors. Recognizing that the perceived distance between two events does not always perfectly reflect the actual passage of time, the third paper explores the effects of landmark events (e.g., birthdays, job changes) on individuals’ subjective time perceptions and subsequent goal pursuit. The fourth and last paper in this symposium segues from the first three papers (and most of past research on temporal distance), which focus solely on temporal distance at the individual level, to explore all four dimensions of psychological distance – temporal, social, physical, and hypothetical distance – in the context of team processes and interpersonal differences. Taken together, the four papers in this symposium advance our understanding of the important role that temporal distance plays in shaping individual employees’ decisions and workplace dynamics. The Impact of Temporal Distance and Climate on Perceived Risk and Innovative Behaviors Presenter: James Berry; U. College London Presenter: David A Hofmann; U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Presenter: Deirdre Gobeille Snyder; U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Does Difference = Distance? Experiencing Diversity as Psychological Construal of Teams in Time Presenter: David A. Harrison; The U. of Texas at Austin Presenter: Luis Martins; The U. of Texas at Austin Presenter: Yurianna Kim; The U. of Texas at Austin Effects of Temporal Distance on Cancer Screening Decisions Presenter: Cheryl Wakslak; U. of Southern California Presenter: Alison Ledgerwood; U. of California, Davis Presenter: Amber Sanchez; U. of California Davis Meaningful Temporal Landmarks Distance Past Imperfections and Motivate Aspirational Behavior Presenter: Hengchen Dai; U. of Pennsylvania Presenter: Katherine L. Milkman; U. of Pennsylvania Presenter: Jason Riis; The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania