Time and information technology: Temporal impacts on individuals, organizations and society

Time has recently become a central issue of discourse in social sciences and management studies. Partly due to the advent of the new millennium, scholars in social sciences and management studies have become fascinated with the notion of time and come to appreciate its complex nature. This newly awakened interest in time can be seen in the recent conferences and journal special issues on the topic.1 In particular, much of this rising interest can be seen in an awareness of changing time in this “information age.” Information technology, recently represented by the Internet, is “transforming time,” theway time is perceived, used, managed, and disciplined. Although it is generally accepted that information technology is affecting temporal aspects of contemporary society, all too often the relationship between time and information technology fails to acknowledge the complexity of their relationship and is simply understood in terms of clichés such as “IT enables us to overcome barriers in time and space.” While one key aspect of the effect of technology on time is that many things are getting faster, we believe the accompanying changes are much more fundamental. This special issue on time and information technology aims to provide this deeper understanding , and thereby to further research and discussion on time and information technology. In this editorial, we review why we believe that time and information technology should be a focal point in understanding current changes in organizations