The role of time in theory and theory building

Although time has been included in theory and theory building as a boundary, condition, this paper argues that time can and should play a more important role because it can change the ontological description and meaning of a theoretical construct and of the relationships between constructs. We suggest that theorists explicitly incorporate,multiple aspects of temporality into the what, how, and why building blocks of their theories. First, we describe sis important time dimensions that we propose are especially relevant to theory building about people, groups, mid organizations: the past, future, and present and the subjective experience of time; time aggregations; duration of steady states and rates of change; incremental versus discontinuons change, frequency, rhythms, and cycles; and spirals and intensity. Second, we put forward a series of time-related questions that can serve as a guide or template for improving theory building through the incorporation of temporality into the what, how, and why of theories. Third, we propose how temporality can be incorporated into theorizing, viewed from a process standpoint. Lastly: Ive demonstrate how the explicit incorporation of time into theoretical analyses may, not only lead to better theorizing and theories but also shed light on ongoing debates in the organizational literature. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.