A Time Attitude Scale for Cross Cultural Research

Abstract

The paper describes the development and testing of a questionnaire instrument designed to assess the attitudes of individuals towards time. Five constructs are identified from the literature: past, present and future orientations, time pressure (or time as duration) and planning (time as succession). Scale items were developed and tested in four countries: the UK, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Chile. In the last three mentioned countries, the questionnaire was translated into the home language from English using the back translation method. In total, 2,155 respondents completed the instrument. The scale is tested for reliability using Cronbach Alpha both as a whole and in its five constituent parts for each country. Convergent validity was tested using Structural Equation Modelling. Past and future orientations, and time pressure José I. Rojas-Méndez is affiliated with the University of Talca, Chile, and Manchester Business School, England. Gary Davies is affiliated with the Manchester Business School, England. Omer Omer is affiliated with the King Saud University, Saudi Arabia. Paitoon Chetthamrongchai is affiliated with the UTCC, Bangkok, Thailand. Canan Madran is affiliated with CUIBF, Adana, Turkey. emerge as relatively well-defined constructs, reflecting their emphasis in the literature on time attitudes generally. The results are discussed in the context of cross-cultural research and in the context of a growing debate about the use of Cronbach Alpha as an absolute indicator for scale development.

Moral licensing: a culture-moderated meta-analysis

“…Makri and Schlegelmilch 2017). On average South-East Asians tend to show the weakest pronounced present time orientation compared to members of other world regions (Rojas-Méndez et al 2002). Thus, recent experiences and recent own behavior is of less relevance as a guiding influence on subsequent behavior for South-East Asians as compared to for example North Americans or Western Europeans.…”

Cultural differences in dynamic decision-making strategies in a non-linear, time-delayed task

“…A second cultural dimension related to strategy development in association with time developments is the dominant time orientation towards past, present, or future (Brislin & Kim, 2003;Rojas-Mendez, Davies, Omer, Chetthamrongchai, & Madran, 2002). Although no culture focuses exclusively on past, present, or future, most cultures have a preference or dominant focus on one or two of the three time orientations.…”

Culture, Time Orientation, and Exploratory Buying Behavior

“…Many European countries have strong leanings to a past orientation (Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck, 1961), but Britain is considered more as a past-and future-oriented society (Rojas-Méndez and Davies, 2005). Traditional societies such as China are expected to be more past oriented (Rojas-Méndez et al, 2002). Baumgartner and Steenkamp (1996) propose a two-factor conceptualization of exploratory consumer buying behavior in which Exploratory Acquisition of Products (EAP) is distinguished from Exploratory Information Seeking (EIS).…”

“…Brodowsky and Anderson (2000) have demonstrated that consumer attitude toward time implies adaptation of advertising messages, especially in cross-cultural situations. Rojas-Méndez et al (2002) tested a scale to measure time-orientation across different cultures and countries (with four different languages, geographic locations, and religions). These authors noted that there are separate factors explaining people's time orientation, and they seem to be culture-free.…”