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Metropolitan Journal of Academic Multidisciplinary Research

Priorities and Time: A New Skill to Embrace: Are Ugandans Ready?

Authors: Dr Arinaitwe Julius1 , Professor Edris Kasenene Serugo2 , Dr Mategeko Betty3

Journal: Metropolitan Journal of Academic Multidisciplinary Research (MJAMR)

Volume/Issue: Volume 5 - Issue 4

Published: 02 May 2026


Abstract

This study examined the relationship between time orientation, priority-setting behaviour, and economic and social outcomes in the Ugandan context, arguing that the management of time and priorities constituted an increasingly critical competency for Ugandan individuals, households, organizations, and government actors in a rapidly globalizing and digitalizing environment. Drawing on a nationally representative survey of 1,842 adult Ugandans conducted across all regions of the country, supplemented by qualitative interviews with 86 urban and rural respondents, the study explored cultural attitudes toward time, the priority-setting practices of individuals and households, the organizational time cultures of public and private sector institutions, and the gap between existing time management practices and the requirements of Uganda's economic development aspirations. The findings revealed that Uganda was characterized by a complex and internally varied time culture that combined elements of what the literature described as polychronic time orientation comfort with multiple simultaneous activities, flexible scheduling, and relationship-prioritized temporal decisions with growing aspirational alignment with monochronic time norms associated with formal employment, digital technology use, and international business engagement. The study argued that rather than requiring Ugandans to wholesale abandon indigenous time orientations, the cultivation of priority and time management skills required the development of a contextually intelligent temporal flexibility the capacity to navigate between different time cultures as context demanded and that this capacity was both learnable and urgently needed.
Keywords

Priorities, Culture, Time, Skill and development

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