Procrastination

Conceptual Overview

Four types of procrastination have been identified: (1) academic procrastination, concerning postponing academic assignments; (2) life routine procrastination, dealing with current life routines, such as buying Christmas presents or filling out tax forms; (3) decisional procrastination, which means lack of timely decision making, in minor or major issues; and (4) compulsive procrastination, which includes task and decisional procrastination in the same person. These four types may be subsumed into task and decisional procrastination. As a process, procrastination involves avoiding the implementation of an intention, because the individual is distracted (with more pleasant activities or thoughts) from a behavior that is considered to be emotionally unpleasant, notwithstanding that behavior's leading to positive outcomes in the future.

This process is explained in the economic literature as a form of time-inconsistent behavior. It is expected to occur when the present costs of doing something or making a decision are more salient than future costs, leading individuals to postpone tasks until tomorrow without realizing that the same dilatory behavior will occur again tomorrow. Procrastination is therefore an intra-individual phenomenon, which affects the procrastinating individuals, but may also have negative consequences for colleagues or the organizations they work for.

To understand procrastination, the appraisal-anxietyavoidance model of stress and coping, developed [Page 1307]by Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman should be revisited. This model stresses the role of cognitive appraisal and states that individuals will assess whether a given situation or task is threatening to their well-being—primary appraisal. They will also evaluate whether they possess the appropriate resources to deal with the threatening situation—secondary appraisal. Perceptions of inadequate resources induce anxiety, and individuals may adopt a dilatory coping strategy, by putting off the task or decision.

Both personal and situation determinants have been found to generate procrastination. The personal approach looks for individual personality differences. Norman Milgram and Rachel Tenne, using the big five personality traits, found that the personality trait of low conscientiousness is related with task avoidant procrastination, whereas neuroticism correlates with decisional procrastination. The authors argue that people display generalized behavioral and affective tendencies within particular types of procrastination; i.e., task avoidance procrastination includes delays in performing both academic assignments and life routines, while decisional procrastination covers both major and minor decisions.

The situational approach to procrastination emphasizes the circumstances under which people tend to procrastinate. Task aversiveness (difficulty and/or boredom and uselessness) and fear of failure have been found to elicit procrastination, as well as impending evaluations, which would trigger anxiety related to fear of failure and, over time, lead to lower self-esteem. Organizational cultures under threat, such as when performance is declining or during a hostile takeover, as well as the presence of ambiguity, overload and powerlessness are also reported to elicit procrastinatory behavior.

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