Time is an inherent quality of human life and the temporal nature of our being in this world has fundamentally shaped our knowledge and understanding of it: the concept of time pervades everyday language: “time is of the essence”; “timing is everything”; and “a stitch in time saves nine”. Thus, many disciplines are concerned with Time – physics of course, and also history, philosophy, psychology, computer science, communication studies and media. Nevertheless, our understanding of it is fundamentally limited because our consciousness moves along it . The goal of this paper is to develop a conceptualization of time that can be used to investigate the impact of temporality on the design, development, adoption and use of Information Systems and to trace the societal and business impact of that association.

1. International Conference on Information Systems, MILAN 2013
HOW SOON IS NOW?
THEORIZING TEMPORALITY IN IS RESEARCH
Niamh O Riordan, Kieran Conboy and Thomas
Acton
National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland
niamh.oriordan@nuigalway.ie
www.niamhoriordan.com
ie.linkedin.com/in/niamhoriordan/
This research is supported by the Irish Social Sciences Platform (ISSP), funded under the Programme for Research in Third Level
Institutions, administered by the HEA and co- funded under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and also supported
2
in part by Science Foundation Ireland grant 10/CE/I1855 to Lero

2. International Conference on Information Systems MILAN 2013
Agenda
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Motivations
Shortcomings
Research approach
Theoretical framework
Future directions and recommendations
This research is supported by the Irish Social Sciences Platform (ISSP), funded under the Programme for Research in Third Level
Institutions, administered by the HEA and co- funded under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and also supported
3
in part by Science Foundation Ireland grant 10/CE/I1855 to Lero

3. International Conference on Information Systems MILAN 2013
Motivations
• Time is a fundamental business performance indicator
• Firms operate in a high velocity business environment
• Organizations frequently overlook the hidden costs associated
with increased speed, e.g. time pressure
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impairs decision-making (Marsden et al., 2002; Failla and Bagnara, 1992)
alters risk evaluation (Kahneman, 2011; Das and Teng, 2001),
causes stress (Maule and Svenson, 1993)
inhibits creativity and motivation (Amabile et al., 2002)
reduces software quality (Austin, 2001)
negatively affects business negotiations (De Dreu, 2003)
• There is a need to better understand how Information Systems
can be used to develop richer visualizations of time and timeuse in firms that go beyond the simplistic notion of linear time
This research is supported by the Irish Social Sciences Platform (ISSP), funded under the Programme for Research in Third Level
Institutions, administered by the HEA and co- funded under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and also supported
4
in part by Science Foundation Ireland grant 10/CE/I1855 to Lero

4. International Conference on Information Systems MILAN 2013
Shortcomings
• Limited understanding of organizational temporality (Orlikowski and Yates,
2002; Saunders, 2007)
• Lack of cumulative tradition in organizational temporality research
(Nandhakumar, 2002)
• Myopic measures of time resulting in failure to fully evaluate the temporal
effects of new technologies in organizations (Lee and Liebenau, 2000)
• Lack of research on the temporal dynamics of associations between constructs
and decisions about when and how frequently to measure variables are left to
chance (Mitchell and James, 2001)
This research is supported by the Irish Social Sciences Platform (ISSP), funded under the Programme for Research in Third Level
Institutions, administered by the HEA and co- funded under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and also supported
5
in part by Science Foundation Ireland grant 10/CE/I1855 to Lero

5. International Conference on Information Systems MILAN 2013
Approach
• Approach to literature review
– Systematic literature review (cf. Fink, 2010)
– Webster and Watson (2002)
– bXTM Usage-Based Services
• Approach to theory building
– Dubin (1978)
1.Identify temporal attributes, variables or dimensions already used
2.Systematically classify and arrange each concept
3.Ideational trial and error
This research is supported by the Irish Social Sciences Platform (ISSP), funded under the Programme for Research in Third Level
Institutions, administered by the HEA and co- funded under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and also supported
6
in part by Science Foundation Ireland grant 10/CE/I1855 to Lero

6. International Conference on Information Systems MILAN 2013
Conceptual Framework
This research is supported by the Irish Social Sciences Platform (ISSP), funded under the Programme for Research in Third Level
Institutions, administered by the HEA and co- funded under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and also supported
7
in part by Science Foundation Ireland grant 10/CE/I1855 to Lero

7. International Conference on Information Systems MILAN 2013
§1 Planning Time
• Planning Time concerns those activities within the firm that
pertain to the allocation of the firm’s resources
– Planning style affects the degree of temporal freedom available in the firm,
the amount of forethought that precedes events, the temporal distance
between planning and execution and the generosity of time allocations
– Temporal coordination concerns the extent to which events are
synchronized in a firm. On the one hand, it is necessary to consider the
flexibility or adaptability of temporal planning. On the other hand, it is
necessary to consider the precision or exactitude of planning time
This research is supported by the Irish Social Sciences Platform (ISSP), funded under the Programme for Research in Third Level
Institutions, administered by the HEA and co- funded under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and also supported
8
in part by Science Foundation Ireland grant 10/CE/I1855 to Lero

8. International Conference on Information Systems MILAN 2013
§2 Using Time
• Using time refers to the manner in which time is enacted or
performed within the organization
– Time-use style affects the manner in which time is ‘consumed’ in firms.
Improvisatory, monochronic, and polychronic styles of time use have been
identified in the literature. It is also important to examine pace.
– Temporal position describes the location of a particular event in time. This
has traditionally been done rather narrowly but broader conceptualizations
are possible. We distinguish between absolute and relative temporal
positioning
This research is supported by the Irish Social Sciences Platform (ISSP), funded under the Programme for Research in Third Level
Institutions, administered by the HEA and co- funded under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and also supported
9
in part by Science Foundation Ireland grant 10/CE/I1855 to Lero

9. International Conference on Information Systems MILAN 2013
§3 Relating to Time
• Relating to Time refer to individuals’ understanding and
experience of time and deadlines
– Planning schemata refer to the conceptualizations of time that are
held by individuals in terms of planning time (e.g. linear versus
iterative conceptualizations of time)
– Time use schemata refer to the conceptualizations of time that are
held by individuals in terms of using time (e.g. temporal signification,
temporal awareness, temporal preference)
This research is supported by the Irish Social Sciences Platform (ISSP), funded under the Programme for Research in Third Level
Institutions, administered by the HEA and co- funded under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and also supported
10
in part by Science Foundation Ireland grant 10/CE/I1855 to Lero

10. International Conference on Information Systems MILAN 2013
Future directions & recommendations
• Model refinement and validation
• Development of suitable measures
• Additional theory building on OT
• Opportunities to investigate
– The impact of IS/IT on OT
– Opportunities to enhance time performance in firms using IS/IT
– Investigate the relationship between OT and other organizational variables
This research is supported by the Irish Social Sciences Platform (ISSP), funded under the Programme for Research in Third Level
Institutions, administered by the HEA and co- funded under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and also supported
11
in part by Science Foundation Ireland grant 10/CE/I1855 to Lero

11. International Conference on Information Systems MILAN 2013
Thank You
Full paper available at http://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2013/proceedings/BreakthroughIdeas/7/ or from
Niamh O Riordan
National University of Ireland Galway
niamh.oriordan@nuigalway.ie
www.niamhoriordan.com
ie.linkedin.com/in/niamhoriordan/
This research is supported by the Irish Social Sciences Platform (ISSP), funded under the Programme for Research in Third Level
Institutions, administered by the HEA and co- funded under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and also supported
12
in part by Science Foundation Ireland grant 10/CE/I1855 to Lero