Time management is essential for strong strategic business planning and marketing campaigns. Having sufficient time to complete essential planning is important, as is the punctuality of meeting deadlines. Temporal Motivation Theory (TMT) explains the relationship between deciding to perform a task and expected incentives, consequences, and the cost of delay. We analyzed the time (in seconds) that business students submitted weekly quizzes before Saturday night deadlines (1,587 quiz submissions). Self-discipline was measured as a student’s self-evaluation of their ability to start tasks promptly. We find that self-discipline, by itself, was associated with lower average quiz scores. However, self-discipline combined with greater punctuality was associated with higher quiz scores. High self-discipline associated with low emotional stability resulted in earlier average quiz submissions, which resulted in higher quiz scores than submitting work closer to deadlines. These results indicate using internal pressure like anxiety to initiate studying and completing schoolwork can lead to better academic performance. Based on TMT, students appear to use deadlines to reverse calculate the amount of time before a consequential deadline. This translates into a form of negative reinforcement (avoidance), as opposed to positive reinforcement for punctuality. Implications for business marketing students and academicians are discussed.

中文翻译：

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时间动机理论：守时就是几秒钟的事情

时间管理对于强有力的战略业务规划和营销活动至关重要。有足够的时间完成基本计划很重要，准时按时完成也很重要。时间动机理论（TMT）解释了决定执行一项任务与预期激励、后果和延迟成本之间的关系。我们分析了商科学生在周六晚上截止日期之前提交每周测验的时间（以秒为单位）（1,587 份测验提交）。自律是通过学生对其迅速开始任务的能力的自我评价来衡量的。我们发现自律本身与较低的平均测验分数有关。然而，自律与更准时相结合与更高的测验分数相关。高度自律与情绪稳定性低相关，导致平均测验提交时间较早，从而比在截止日期前提交作业获得更高的测验分数。这些结果表明，利用焦虑等内部压力来开始学习和完成作业可以带来更好的学习成绩。根据 TMT，学生似乎使用截止日期来反向计算相应截止日期之前的时间量。这转化为一种消极强化（回避）的形式，而不是对守时的积极强化。讨论了对商业营销学生和学者的影响。