Prof.  Ekaterina  Zabelina
Chelyabinsk State University,  Russia

Title: Psychological time as a marker and resource of professional activity

Abstract:

Psychological time of a personality is the most universal and volumetric term, including various facets of the phenomenon of subjective time (time perception, time experience, attitude toward time, temporal orientation, etc.). It is understood as the totality of the mediated by the psyche perception, experience and attitude to the physical time of life, which is caused by social, historical, cultural conditions of human activity and determines one’s behavior (Zabelina, 2021).

Although psychological time and its components are widely studied in the context of professional activity and work behavior (Nestik, 2015; Teriokhina, 2015; Chuvashova, 2014; Henry, Zacher, Desmette, 2017; Topa, Zacher, 2018 et al.), there is a lack of systematic studies generalizing the role of psychological time in professional activity. This study aims to fill this gap by offering a study of the psychological time components in various professional communities and organizations.

The study is based on the psychological time model, consisting of four components: value-motivational (subjective significance of time); cognitive (temporal focus, temporal perspective, subjective age, etc.); affective-evaluative (attitude toward time) and conative one (preferred ways of time organizing) (Nestic, 2015, p. 100).

General hypothesis is that psychological time is a marker and resource in the professional activity at different stages, participating in motivation and satisfaction of life and work. The hypothesis was tested in four studies.

Study 1. In this study a particular hypothesis was tested, that the characteristics of internal environment of organizations (public and private) together with professional specificity form certain patterns of attitude and perception of time by employees. 

To test this hypothesis, a study was conducted in which secondary school teachers (N=148), workers of large production enterprises (factories) (N = 80) and employees of information technology professions (programmers, developers, system analysts) (N=111) took part. The comparison of these groups revealed differences that confirm the hypothesis. The perception of time by school teachers is characterized by a high degree of fatalism and a lower sense of the value of time as an economic resource. On the contrary, IT specialists are characterized by a more pronounced future orientation, a more positive image of the future, higher value of time as an economic resource, greater confidence in their ability to change the situation. The workers are immersed in the present, where they have to solve several tasks at once (polychronicity), while planning far ahead is less popular.

The comparison results (N=120) revealed only one difference between groups with different seniority. The negative attitude to the past shows a tendency to increase with seniority, which may indicate an emerging professional burnout. Despite the modesty of the differences, we observed the specificity of the interrelationships between psychological time indicators and life satisfaction at different stages of service. Thus, in the group of employees with 3-7 years of service, higher values of the current focus were associated with higher levels of life satisfaction (r = . 484, p=. 031). It is likely that staff members who have successfully adapted and established themselves in the profession, understand well the functions they need to perform, the criteria they are assessed, therefore, they are more aware of the link between involvement in the current job and satisfaction with their lives. This conclusion confirms the relationship of life satisfaction with a positive attitude to the present (r =.530, p=. 016) and the past (r=. 482, p=. 032) in this group. It should be noted that the positive relationship to present with satisfaction of life will remain in the later period, but the strongest relationship of life satisfaction with past, current and future focuses is represented in the group with minimum service (1-3 years). The latter fact can be seen as a demonstration of the resource function of psychological time, which in this case facilitates more effective adaptation of employees. The relationship between attitude towards the future and satisfaction with life (r= .463, p= .040) in this group may indicate a desire for the future positive expectations, which increases subjective well-being by making it easier to cope with difficulties. At a later stage of service (7-10 years), it is necessary to include employees in social life, increase awareness in the execution of the tasks, which is prevention of professional burnout.

Study 3. The third study aimed to identify the relationship between psychological time components and job satisfaction in the professional spheres with different regulation of the activities. A comparative study among university teachers and employees in the system of execution of punishment (N = 101) revealed differences in psychological time indicators. Thus, professors feel themselves younger (p=.036) than in reality and compared to prison staff, especially on the social (p=.002) and intellectual (p=.001) levels. Professors are also more focused on the present moment (p=.025) and less focused on time constraints (p=.041). Probably, professional activities related to creativity and a certain freedom, contributes to the maintenance of younger subjective age, promotes greater involvement in current events and building a longer professional time perspective. 

Furthermore, specific correlations were found between job satisfaction and psychological time of the employees in these professional areas, which also indicates the specific participation of psychological time in professional activities. In the penitentiary system, negative links between the temporal focus (past r=-. 449 p=. 000), current r=-. 577 p=. 000, future r=-. 564 p=. 000) and satisfaction with the work were found. No such correlations were detected in the university, but correlations between attitude toward time and satisfaction with the particular aspects of work were found, and they are diverging. For example, the attitude toward present is negatively related to satisfaction with the department (r=-. 414 p=. 012) and working conditions (r=-. 462 p=. 004), but positively – with salary satisfaction (r=. 397 p=. 016). These data can be seen as the evidence of the protective function of psychological time in the professional environment: positive attitude to the past, future and especially present compensate for dissatisfaction with some aspects of work. In the penitentiary system, where working conditions are more regulated, associated with increased responsibility and stress, the protective function is expressed more strongly. On the other hand, the feeling of satisfaction with a number of important factors in the organization contributes to a more positive perception of events not only present but also future (for university teachers).

Interesting is the fact that the past focus associates with the team satisfaction (with a negative sign), in both organizations (penitentiary organization r=-.389 p=.018, university r=-.341 p=.042). Probably, good relationships in the team is an important motivator in these professional communities, making the employee to remember the past less. It is also worth noting that the prison staff have more links with temporal focus and they are all negative, which confirms the assumption of the protective function of the psychological time, protecting the person from psychological overload.

A few links with the subjective age are identified, and they are specific to each occupational group. A correlation between physical age and team satisfaction was found in the prison staff group (r=.262 p=.032). Employees who perceive their physical appearance as older than they are in reality are more satisfied with the work relations. These employees probably value their colleagues for their unflattering attitude and acceptance of themselves as they are. University teachers found correlation between social age and career satisfaction (r=-.352 p=.035). Professors who are more satisfied with their career prospects rate their age as younger. This confirms the hypothesis that social age (feeling younger in terms of actions and abilities) may serve as a resource for pursuing a career in higher education.

Study 4. This study is devoted to exploring the psychological time of older employees and their motivation to continue working, having the status of a retiree. To do this, we compared temporal focus and subjective age in working and non-working retirees. The results (N=200) showed that means of the past focus are higher for non-working retiree. Differences in perceived and chronological age are more pronounced in the group of working retiree: they assess themselves subjectively younger than non-working retiree and by all types. Probably, for retiree who have finished their professional career, memories (including about work) become a more important part of life, they provide internal resources (meanings) for continuing activities.

The results of the discriminant analysis predict with a high degree of probability that only one type of subjective age (social age) is an indicator that affects the distribution of the retirees into two groups (working and non-working ones). That is, the perception of oneself as younger in social interaction predicts the continuation of work in retirement. The study contributes to the defining the role of psychological time in motivating elderly people to continue their professional activities in retirement. 

1. Psychological time is a marker that highlights the features of the professional activities. Thus, professional activities associated with greater creativity and freedom contribute to the maintenance of a younger subjective age, promote greater involvement in current events and build a longer professional time perspective. 

2. Temporal focus can perform a protective function, increasing life satisfaction and making it easier to cope with professional problems. In the stage of adaptation to professional activity all types of the temporal focus (past, current, future) are actualized in the interrelations with life satisfaction. On the contrary, in a complex and stressful environment, attention to different time periods becomes less interrelated with those aspects of the work that are not satisfactory to the staff member.

Biography:

Ekaterina Zabelina, PhD, Doctor of Science (Economic Psychology), Professor of Chelyabinsk State University (Russia). She has more than 200 publications. Scientific areas: current problems of social psychology, economic consciousness, time psychology, cognitive psychology, environmental behavior, entrepreneurship. She is a member of the Russian Psychological Society. Awarded with the Diploma for a contribution to development and improvement of the activity of Chelyabinsk State University in the field of scientific research following the results of 2010, 2020, 2024. 

"The psychology in the XXI century" awarded her with the Diploma for the victory in the Original Research Design nomination in 21 International academic and research conference of young scientists (St. Petersburg, 2017). Her report “Entrepreneurial attitudes in the structure of economic mind of young people” in world conference GIKA (Spain, 2018) was acknowledged as the best research and recommended for journal publishing «International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research (Emerland)». She is the member of the Editorial Team and Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Innovation & Knowledge (JIK) by Elsevier, (https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-innovation-and-knowledge/), and Bulletin of Chelyabinsk State University.