Strategies For Success in Education Time Management Is More Important For Part-Time Than Full-Time Community College Students
Strategies For Success in Education Time Management Is More Important For Part-Time Than Full-Time Community College Students
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: This paper examines relationships between the Big Five personality factors, time management, and grade-point-
Received 28 June 2010 average in 556 community colleges students. A path model controlling for vocabulary, gender, and demographic
Received in revised form 3 August 2011 covariates demonstrated that time management mediates the relationship between conscientiousness and stu-
Accepted 23 September 2011
dents' academic achievement at community college. Separate modeling for part-time (n = 147) and full-time
students (n = 409) showed that this mediation was moderated by enrollment status. Thus, time management
Keywords:
Time management
was a significant mediator for part-time students but not for full-time students. The greater importance of
Academic achievement time management for part- versus full-time students suggests that noncognitive constructs such as time man-
Personality, Conscientiousness agement may be more critical for non-traditional students. These findings gather fresh currency as ever increas-
Part-time students ing numbers of students are enrolling part-time in post-secondary education across the globe.
Crown Copyright © 2011 Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2011.09.015
C. MacCann et al. / Learning and Individual Differences 22 (2012) 618–623 619
pieces and counseling services given both to incumbent and at-risk control for cognitive ability in the mediation model, as cognitive abil-
students (e.g., Rowh, 2004). Moreover, poor time management prac- ity is clearly a major predictor of academic achievement.
tices – such as not allocating time properly for work assignments,
cramming for exams, and failing to meet deadlines set by academic 1.4. Differences between part-time and full-time students
staff – are frequently cited as a major source of stress and poor aca-
demic performance (e.g., Gall, 1988; Longman & Atkinson, 2004; Over the last 30 years there has been a global increase in the pro-
Macan, Shahani, Dipboye, & Phillips, 1990). In addition, empirical ev- portion of students studying part-time (Kember, 1999; O'Toole,
idence suggests that effective time management is associated with Stratton, & Wetzel, 2003; Williams & Kane, 2010). In fact, 38% of stu-
greater academic achievement (e.g., Britton & Tesser, 1991; Macan dents enrolled at degree-granting institutions in the US were enrolled
et al., 1990; McKenzie & Gow, 2004; Trueman & Hartley, 1996). In part-time in 2007 (Chen & Carroll, 2007). Community colleges have
the present study, we use R. D. Roberts, Schulze, and Minsky's an even greater intake of part-time students than standard four-
(2006) measure of time management, which assesses several broad year colleges (McCormick, Geis, & Vergun, 1995). Despite these
time management competencies. These competencies include setting changing patterns of enrolment, most basic research still focuses on
goals, meeting deadlines, using time management aids such as list- full-time students, and very few studies address whether the predic-
making, coping with change, making plans, and effectively organizing tors of achievement may be different for part-time students
one's time. R. D. Roberts et al. provide evidence for the instruments' (Williams & Kane, 2010). One exception is Fish and Wilson (2009)
structural validity and reliability. who found that different cognitive ability variables were predictive
of MBA grades for part- versus full-time students. Although no studies
have directly compared the importance of noncognitive factors for
1.3. Time management and conscientiousness part- versus full-time students, McKenzie and Gow (2004) found
that learning strategies were nearly twice as predictive of grades for
It is clear from past research that both time management and con- mature-age college students compared to traditional-age college stu-
scientiousness predict students' achievement at school (e.g., Britton & dents. This result suggests that noncognitive constructs such as time
Tesser, 1991; Macan et al., 1990; O'Connor & Paunonen, 2007; management may be more important for some sub-groups than
Poropat, 2009; Trapmann et al., 2007; Trueman & Hartley, 1996). others. Moreover, it suggests that noncognitive constructs may be
What is less clear is the particular ways in which conscientiousness more important for part-time students, who are frequently older
and time management combine to predict academic success. than full-time students.
Previous research with middle and high school students demon- As well as age, part-time students differ from full-time students in
strates that time management shares a strong empirical relationship several other key ways. Demographically, part-time students are
with conscientiousness, with reported correlations of .57 (Liu, more likely to be female and to be employed full-time (Chen &
Rijmen, MacCann, & Roberts, 2009) and .65 (MacCann & Roberts, Carroll, 2007; O'Toole et al., 2003). Thus, part time students are more
2010), respectively. Students who are highly conscientious tend to likely than full-time students to have competing demands from work
use more time management strategies, particularly those related to and children that may displace study time. Moreover, part-time stu-
meeting deadlines, organization, and planning. However, we would dents who attrite frequently cite lack of time as their primary barrier
argue that time management is distinct from conscientiousness for to success (Kember, 1999). Given the greater time demands on part-
both conceptual and empirical reasons. Conceptually, time manage- time students, it is feasible that time management may be particularly
ment is a set of habits or learnable behaviors that may be acquired important for this identifiable sub-group, both as a predictor of
through increased knowledge, training, or deliberate practice. By con- achievement and as a mediator of the conscientiousness-achievement
trast, conscientiousness is a broad personality domain thought to be relationship.
at least partly genetic, and is arguably less susceptible to environmen-
tal influences (e.g., Costa & McCrae, 2006; Luciano, Wainwright,
Wright, & Martin, 2006). That is, conscientiousness is a broad and 1.5. Summary of hypotheses
over-arching trait, while time management is a set of acquired habits.
Second, although time management and conscientiousness are There are four hypotheses. First, both time management and con-
strongly empirically linked, factor analytic evidence suggests that scientiousness will be significantly correlated with students' GPA.
these are psychometrically distinct constructs (Kelly & Johnson, Second, the relationship between time management and GPA will
2005). be significantly greater for part-time than full-time students. Third,
Crede and Kuncel (2008) suggest that the relationship between time management will mediate the relationship between conscien-
personality and academic performance is mediated by study attitudes tiousness and achievement. Fourth, this mediation will be more pro-
and habits such as time management practices. Under this conceptu- nounced for part-time students than full-time students (i.e., a
alization, the link between conscientiousness and achievement is due moderated mediation).
to the behavioral expression of conscientiousness in the form of
habits and behaviors that benefit learning. That is, one reason consci- 2. Method
entiousness relates to achievement is that conscientious students use
more and better time management strategies, which helps them to 2.1. Participants
succeed academically. Time management appears as a behavioral ex-
pression of high conscientiousness. A total of 556 community college students (323 female) partici-
The second aim of the current study is to statistically model this pated in the study. The mean age of the respondents was
proposed mediation. Previous research has not yet explored whether 25.02 years (SD = 9.40; median = 20). In terms of ethnicity/race,
time management mediates the effects of conscientiousness on stu- 47% reported being White, 17% African-American, 20% Hispanic, 6%
dents' grades. Although McKenzie and Gow (2004) found that learn- Asian, while 9% indicated “other.” In order to obtain something of a
ing strategies, including a time management component, mediated representative sample of community colleges, these students were
the conscientiousness/achievement relationship, they did not isolate drawn from 20 institutions from all four regions of the USA. The sam-
time management as a specific mediator and used only a very brief ple size per institution ranged from 10 to 58. Of those permissible
measure of time management. In the current study, we use a compre- cases, 42% came from large/midsize cities, 24% from the outskirts of
hensive, multi-faceted measure of time management. In addition, we a large/midsize city/town, and 34% from small towns/rural areas.
620 C. MacCann et al. / Learning and Individual Differences 22 (2012) 618–623
About 74% of the sample reported going to community college each institution's committee for human ethics. The participants were
full-time (12+ credit hours). There were no significant differences tested in groups of approximately 10–20 people. The number of
in the ethnic composition of full-time versus part-time students participants tested at the same time was only restricted by the local
(χ 2 = 3.377, df = 4, ns). Whites comprised 46% of full-time students facilities. The whole testing procedure lasted approximately 2 h
and 50% of part time students. There was also no significant difference (including the administration of other measures not reported here),
in the gender composition of full-time versus part-time students: with suitable rest pauses after 1 h of work. Participants completed
Males comprised 43% of full-time students and 40% of part-time the test in various random orders. All measures were given via com-
students (χ 2 = 0.413, df = 1, ns). However, as expected, full-time puter through a web-based interface. Participants were free to leave
students were significantly younger (Mean age = 23.8 years, at any time (participants who did not complete all measures in the
SD = 8.3) than part-time students (Mean age = 28.5 years, study were excluded from analyses list-wise).
SD = 11.3; F = 28.896, p b .001).
3. Results
2.2. Measures
3.1. Reliability, descriptive statistics, and group differences
2.2.1. Vocabulary
Because of its importance in the academic domain, a measure of Table 1 reports the reliability and descriptive statistics for all mea-
crystallized intelligence was included to control for the effects of cog- sures in the study. Table 1 also reports group differences for all vari-
nitive ability. A test of vocabulary was chosen for this purpose. In this ables by enrollment status (part- versus full-time), sex, and age. Age
test, which serves as a marker for verbal ability, participants were re- was significantly correlated with time management, agreeableness,
quired to choose, from among five alternatives, the word (or words) and conscientiousness, such that older students tended to score
closest in meaning to a given stimulus item (Ekstrom, French, & higher on all three variables. All measures had acceptable internal
Harman, 1979). Example: “jovial” means: “1—refreshing; 2—scare; 3— consistency. Part-time students had significantly higher vocabulary
thickset; 4—wise; or 5—jolly”. scores but there were no differences in GPA. Mean scores for part-
and full-time students did not differ significantly for any personality
2.2.2. Big-five IPIP short-form trait, or for time management. There were no significant sex differ-
This 50-item scale (10 items per subscale) is based on items and ences for grade-point-average (GPA), but females showed higher vo-
theory from the International Personality Item Pool (Goldberg et al., cabulary scores. Sex differences in personality agreed with previous
2006) and provides assessment of the five global personality do- findings: Women were more agreeable, more conscientious, but less
mains: (a) Openness (O; e.g., “I have a rich vocabulary”); (b) Consci- open to experience and less emotionally stable (Costa, Terracciano,
entiousness (C; e.g., “I am always prepared”); (c) Extraversion (E; & McCrae, 2001; Schmitt, Realo, Voracek, & Allik, 2008). Women
e.g., “I am the life of the party”); (d) Agreeableness (A; e.g., “I am in- also scored significantly higher than men on time management.
terested in people”); and (e) Emotional Stability (ES; e.g., “I get
stressed out easily”, reverse-keyed). The response format was a five 3.2. Correlations between variables
point Likert-type rating scale, ranging from “Very Inaccurate of Me”
to “Very Accurate of Me.” Table 2 reports the correlations among GPA, vocabulary, personal-
ity, and time management for all students, and separately for part-
2.2.3. Time management versus full-time students. For all groups, vocabulary, Conscientious-
This 36-item scale assesses time management behaviors and atti- ness, and time management predicted GPA. Both time management
tudes (Roberts et al., 2006). Test-takers endorse statements on a 4- and conscientiousness were not significantly related to vocabulary.
point frequency scale: (1) “Rarely or Never,” (2) “Sometimes,” (3) Of the Big Five personality traits, conscientiousness showed the stron-
“Often,” and (4) “Usually or Always.” An example item is: “I leave gest relationship with GPA, in agreement with previous literature for
things to the last minute” (reverse-keyed). school and university students. The magnitude of this relationship
was similar for full- versus part-time students (r = .18 versus
2.3. Procedure r = .17). Openness and Agreeableness also showed significant and
non-trivial relationships with GPA. The magnitude of the time
Test protocols were approved both by the Educational Testing management-GPA relationship was higher for part-time students
Service (ETS) human ethics review committee and (where requisite) (r = .29) than full-time students (r = .17), but this difference was
Table 1
Reliability, descriptive statistics, and score differences by enrolment (full-time versus part-time), sex, and age.
M SD M SD M SD
GPA (0 to 4) 3.16 0.53 3.17 0.52 3.15 0.57 0.03 − 0.13 .08
Vocabulary .82 0.55 0.16 0.53 0.16 0.59 0.16 − 0.34⁎⁎ − 0.20⁎ .25⁎⁎
Extraversion .86 33.48 7.90 33.58 7.68 33.20 8.50 0.05 0.13 −.08
Agreeableness .76 40.08 5.81 39.80 5.85 40.87 5.64 − 0.18 − 0.49⁎⁎ .12⁎⁎
Conscientiousness .80 36.37 6.54 36.34 6.40 36.45 6.94 − 0.02 − 0.25⁎⁎ .14⁎⁎
Emotional stability .85 31.55 7.93 31.42 7.98 31.91 7.79 − 0.06 0.46⁎⁎ .07
Openness .76 36.95 5.98 36.88 5.79 37.12 6.51 − 0.04 0.13 .00
Time management .85 99.00 12.90 98.49 12.68 100.44 13.44 − 0.15 − 0.48⁎⁎ .20⁎⁎
Note. Effect size for sex differences and part-time versus full-time differences was calculated using Hedge's g, with positive values indicating higher mean scores for males and for
full-time students.
a
Significance of group differences were calculated with t-tests.
⁎ p b .05.
⁎⁎ p b .01.
C. MacCann et al. / Learning and Individual Differences 22 (2012) 618–623 621
Table 2
Correlations between GPA, Vocabulary, Personality, and Time Management for all students, for full-time students (lower left of matrix) and for part-time students (upper right of
matrix).
GPA Voc E A C ES O TM
All
GPA
Vocabulary (Voc) .30⁎⁎
Extraversion (E) −.06 .01
Agreeableness (A) .13⁎⁎ .24⁎⁎ .25⁎⁎
Conscientiousness (C) .18⁎⁎ .01 .04 .25⁎⁎
Emotional stability (ES) .09⁎ .08 .16⁎⁎ .12⁎⁎ .22⁎⁎
Openness (O) .13⁎⁎ .28⁎⁎ .24⁎⁎ .41⁎⁎ .17⁎⁎ .13⁎⁎
Time management .20⁎⁎ .05 .03 .24⁎⁎ .76⁎⁎ .23⁎⁎ .11⁎⁎
not significant using Fisher's z-transformation (z = 1.31, p = .095, 3.4. Moderated mediation: Does the mediation model differ for part- vs.
1-tailed). full-time students?
Time Management
Sex
Age
Vocabulary
Fig. 2. Standardized path coefficients illustrating the mediation of the conscientiousness–
Fig. 1. Path model illustrating a mediation of conscientiousness by time management, GPA relationship by time management (vocabulary, age and gender are included in the
with sex, age, and vocabulary as covariates. model as covariates but not shown in the diagram).
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