Time management and achievement striving interact to predict car sales performance.

Abstract

Recent research (T. H. Macan, 1994) questioned the importance of time management in predicting performance. The authors tested the hypothesis that time management behaviors interact with achievement striving to predict car sales performance. On the basis of data from 102 salespeople, moderated regression analyses supported that hypothesis. There was a significant interaction between short-range planning and achievement striving. Results show how time management is related to job performance under conditions of high motivation. Despite a large literature lauding the benefits of time management behaviors in general (e.g., Warihay, 1978) and for sales performance in particular (e.g., Berkowitz & Ginter, 1978; Feiertag, 1991; Friedman, 1993), the available literature suggests some controversy regarding whether the expected benefits of time management are realized in practice (Macan, 1994). Empirical findings suggest that positive time management practices are associated with self-evaluations of academic performance (Macan, Shahani, Dipboye, & Phillips, 1990), objective grade point average (Britton & Tesser, 1991 ), job satisfaction (Landy, Rastegary, Thayer, & Colvin, 1991 ), and self-perceived organizational performance (Lim, 1993). However, there are also data suggesting that time management behaviors may have little effect on objectively measured job performance (Macan, 1994).