What Is the Meaning of “on Time”? The Sociocultural Nature of Punctuality

University students ( N = 301) in Estonia, Morocco, and the United States read scenarios about various scheduled appointments and indicated the time at which a person arriving would be inappropriately early or inappropriately late. Participants also completed measures of time orientation, collectivism, and personality. Definitions of “on time” varied substantially across countries and across individuals but interacted in a regular fashion with specific features of appointments (e.g., the purpose of an appointment or the status of persons involved). Flexible definitions of “on time” were associated with youth, collectivist values, and a fatalistic orientation toward the present. Finally, definitions of “on time” were largely independent of personality traits. Taken as a whole, personal standards of punctuality appear to be best understood within a situational and sociocultural—rather than dispositional—framework.

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