Perceptions of time at work: Why the clock ticks differently for men and women when they are not working at work

Author(s):

Aristides Isidoro Ferreira (Business School, ISCTE - University Institute of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal)

Joana Diniz Esteves (Department of Human Resources and Organizational Behavior, Business School, ISCTE - University Institute of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal)

...Show all authors

Abstract:

Purpose

– Activities such as making personal phone calls, surfing on the internet, booking personal appointments or chatting with colleagues may or may not deviate attentions from work. With this in mind, the purpose of this paper is to examine gender differences and motivations behind personal activities employees do at work, as well as individuals’ perception of the time they spend doing these activities.

Design/methodology/approach

– Data were obtained from 35 individuals (M_age=37.06 years; SD=7.80) from a Portuguese information technology company through an ethnographic method including a five-day non-participant direct observation (n=175 observations) and a questionnaire with open-ended questions.

Findings

– Results revealed that during a five-working-day period of eight hours per day, individuals spent around 58 minutes doing personal activities. During this time, individuals engaged mainly in socializing through conversation, internet use, smoking and taking coffee breaks. Results revealed that employees did not perceive the time they spent on non-work realted activities accurately, as the values of these perceptions were lower than the actual time. Moreover, through HLM, the findings showed that the time spent on conversation and internet use was moderated by the relationship between gender and the leisure vs home-related motivations associated with each personal activity developed at work.

Originality/value

– This study contributes to the literature on human resource management because it reveals how employees often perceive the time they spend on non-work related activities performed at work inaccurately. This study highlights the importance of including individual motivations when studying gender differences and personal activities performed at work. The current research discusses implications for practitioners and outlines suggestions for future studies.

Keywords:

Mixed methodologies, Gender differences, Home and leisure-related motivations, Perceived and actual time, Personal activities developed at work, Timelessness

Publisher:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Acknowledgments:

The authors would like to thank the editor and reviewers whose valueable contributions helped improve this paper greatly. The authors would also like to thank João Vieira da Cunha for sharing some papers and his supportive insights in an earlier phase of this study. Lastly, the authors want to express the gratitude to Paula da Costa Ferreira for her professionalism in reviewing the English language used in this paper.

Copyright:

© Emerald Group Publishing Limited 2016
Published by Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Citation:

Aristides Isidoro Ferreira, Joana Diniz Esteves, (2016) "Perceptions of time at work: Why the clock ticks differently for men and women when they are not working at work", Personnel Review, Vol. 45 Issue: 1, pp.29-50, https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-02-2014-0033

Downloads:

The fulltext of this document has been downloaded 1148 times since 2016