TIME MANAGEMENT FOR BETTER JOB PERFORMANCE: AN ANALYSIS FROM AL-WASATIYYAH PERSPECTIVE

Managing time means engaging activities that generate greater benefits to human beings. To a Muslim, benefits encompass for both worlds, i.e., life in this mundane world as well as life in the hereafter. Previous research on time management resulted in a variety of findings depending on the aspects under study. The objective of this research is to investigate the components of time management that have significant relationship with job performance, especially in the context of Malaysian employees. This research also intends to relate the concepts and attributes of “al-wasatiyyah” that have direct relationship to job performance. To pursue the research objectives, 223 employees working in different sectors in Malaysia were contacted. The researchers found that certain time management factors namely “prioritisation of tasks,” “usage of schedules,” and “time management instrument” sustained statistically significant positive relationships to job performance. Meanwhile, the al-wasatiyyah variables that have been found to have statistically significant positive relationships to job performance are “working with sincerity/pure intention (niyyah),” “following the middle path to avoid excessiveness in working place (wasatan),” “practicing values in working place (qiam),” and “ensuring fairness in Rafikul Islam, Md. Yousuf Ali, and Noor Mohammad Osmani 172 task assignment (adl).” These findings have important implications. Most importantly, managers of organisations can practice them to motivate employees in order to enhance their job performance which by and large will improve the performance of the whole organisation in the long run.


INTRODUCTION
Allah (swt) says (Al-Asr, 103: 1-3): By (the token of) time (through the Ages), verily man is in loss, except those who have faith and do righteous deeds and (join together) in the mutual teaching of truth and of patience and constancy (Al-Qur'an, 2016).
In line with the above Qur'anic verses, human beings are required to discipline themselves by underscoring the importance of time. They must be prompt in doing good deeds, which will increase their faith and subsequently, enable them to gain Allah's pleasure and mercy. They have to remember that on the Day of Judgement, they will be asked how they spent their time, lives, wealth, and knowledge. In other words, they will be questioned on how they spent everything that Allah (swt) has given to them as narrated [by Abdullah bin Masud (ra)] in the following hadith.
Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) said: A man shall be asked concerning five things on the Day of Resurrection: concerning his life, how he spent it; concerning his youth, how he grew old; concerning his wealth, how he acquired it, and in what way he spent it; and what was it that he did with the knowledge that he had (Sunan Al-Tirmidhi, vol. 4, book 11, hadith no. 2416).
The above hadith reiterates that time management is important, beneficial, and effective for individuals and organisations. In order to balance our daily lives, we need to be able to organise and utilise our time wisely. Without good time management skills, we can easily fall behind in fulfilling our responsibilities and feeling exasperated. Time is a valuable resource whereby our attitude to it and the way we use it makes the difference between success and failure, fitness and poor health, peace of mind and anxiety or depression (Jone, 1997). Since time always passes at a constant speed, one has to care for the time allocated to him/her. The amount of time daily, monthly, or yearly is the same for all. It is said that those who care for their time are the ones who make great achievements in their personal and professional lives, and they do realise that time is not enough for doing all what they want to do. In contrast, those who do not care for achievements are the ones who consider time to be of little value (Al-Jeraisy, 2008). Ironically, in spite of its great importance, time is the most wasted and the least concerned element at both the individual as well as organisational levels.
One of the critical issues in management today is how to manage time. Time is a very unique commodity. It cannot be borrowed, rented, or bought. It is irreplaceable and execution of anything requires it. It is found that proper management of time increases efficiency, personal and professional satisfaction, and decreases stress (Claessens et al., 2007). In essence, time management is vital for overall wellbeing. Macan et al. (1990) found that those who obtained higher time management behaviour scores will experience less ambiguity concerning their role, less somatic tension, greater satisfaction in job as well as life, and higher overall performance. The authors also discovered four factors that define time management behaviour -setting goals and priorities; mechanics which includes planning and scheduling; perceived control of time; and preference for disorganisation. Amponsah-Tawiah et al. (2018) found in their cross-sectional study that in Ghana, many employees have poor time management skills and consequently their productivity was low. In other words, to improve productivity in the industrial sector of Ghana, employees must pay attention on how they use their time in the workplace.
From the Islamic standpoint, time is a precious amanah from Allah (swt). Proper utilisation of time increases efficiency, personal and professional satisfaction, and decreases stress from workload. It also leads to success for worldly pursuits and secure eternal bliss in the hereafter. Since time is limited in life, it must be utilised in the best possible manner so that eternal success can be attained. According to Al-Jeraisy (2008), a Muslim's life involves two elements, i.e., worshipping and earning a living. He/she should use his/her time wisely and efficiently in daily life and should not render his/her deeds in vain as the Qur'an (47: 33) says: "O you who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger and render not vain your deeds." This present empirical work deals with time management, job performance, and al-wasatiyyah concept in Islam. Al-wasatiyyah is an Arabic word derived from the word wasat which means moderation, middle path, or balanced way (Hanapi, 2014). In the context of the Qur'an, ummatan wasatan (Al-Baqarah, 2:143) refers to the balanced Islamic community or a just nation in every aspect of life. Al-wasatiyyah is a guide for a Muslim in achieving success in his/her worldly life as well as life after death. It is the opposite of extremism and liberalism. In fact, the concept of al-wasatiyyah has become popular in contemporary time amongst Muslims (Bakir & Othman, 2017). Hence, the present study aims (1) to investigate the effects of time management on job performance, (2) to find out the factors that affect job performance, and (3) to connect them with the role of al-wasatiyyah in time management for better job performance.
In the Malaysian context, not many researches have been conducted involving time management and job performance. Nonetheless, the few which were found in literature are briefly reported here. Abduljabbar et al. (2012) investigated the relationship between time management and job performance for the administrative staff of the Universiti Tenaga National in Malaysia. By means of a survey on 220 respondents, the researchers found positive relationships between time planning, time attitude, and job performance. However, as expected, they found a negative relationship between time wasters and job performance. Another study discovered that to organise or execute any event successfully, good time management is essential (Ahmad et al., 2012). The authors, through an empirical study on 65 event managers in Malaysia, found significant positive correlation between time management and event management performance. Most of the respondents disclosed that time management affected their job performance.
Meanwhile, there has been a wide range of research on matching graduates' competency and employability skills required in the job market (Hamid et al., 2014;Kenayathulla et al., 2019). A recent study conducted by Kenayathulla et al. (2019) found that there was a significant gap between the skills possessed by the graduates in their hospitality program and the required skills in the hospitality industry. The researchers recommended that graduates should be equipped with the 21st century required skills including problem solving and decision making, risk taking, correlation, organisation, and time management. Johari et al. (2019) investigated structural relationship between job itself, employee well-being, and job performance for various public agencies in Malaysia. In particular, the researchers found that employee well-being accounted for 41.8% variation in job performance, but the research did not include the time management factor to test its relationship with job performance.
Overall, in the Malaysian context, there is a clear dearth of studies on time management from al-wasatiyyah perspective and, in fact, very little work has been done on the integration of the philosophy of al-wasatiyyah with time management. Therefore, the present research investigates the relationship between time management, al-wasatiyyah, and job performance to fill up this research gap.

Time Management
Research findings are abounding with different contents on time management in the areas of academics, leadership, psychology, and organisational behaviour. As the objective of this research is to identify the relationship between time management and job performance in the organisation from al-wasatiyyah perspective, it needs to depict certain issues pertaining to time management. Sarfraz (2017) dispels the myth that transformational, transactional, and other types of leaders have similar time management skills. The researcher connected eight time management categories with the nine leadership styles based on each style's nature. The researcher concluded that the linkage between leadership style and time management skills can bring greater understanding on the parts of the leaders on how they should design their leadership strategies. In a recent study, Janeslätt et al. (2018) developed a scale to assess time management skills of people who require occupational therapy. A total of 238 respondents participated in their study of which 94 had impaired time management skills due to mental disorders.
Previous literature suggests developing skills for better time management which include the capability of identifying priorities, having achievable goals, remain organised, and monitor one's very own progress (Claessens et al., 2007). A number of researchers have discussed about the components of effective time management. A group of researchers of the Eastern Illinois University developed seven components of effective time management. On the other hand, researchers at the University of Central Florida developed 16 components related to time management (Pierce & Jussila, 2011). The components are essentially related with managing goals, tasks, prioritisation of tasks, usage of schedule, procrastination management, and reminder system. These components have strong links with the pioneering model on time management developed by Macan (1994). Konig and Kleinmann (2005) found that people became most active in carrying out the projects when deadlines loom. This phenomenon is known as "time discounting" which is the main cause for deadline rush. The authors also observed that, in general, people preferred smaller but sooner reward over larger but later reward. This typical behaviour of people is more accurately portrayed by a hyperbolic function rather than an exponential one. The observation has also been supported by some earlier researchers such as Koch and Kleinmann (2002). On a related topic, several researchers explored the relationship between dispositional characteristics and time management. Propensities to procrastinate, impatience, and polychonicity (multitasking) are treated as common dispositional characteristics (Bond & Feather, 1988;Francis-Smythe & Robertson, 1999) found among employees.
A number of studies have been conducted linking time management and academic performance. Using the time management model originally developed by Britton and Glynn (1989), Britton and Tesser (1991) tested the effects of certain time management practices on students' academic achievements. A principal component analysis on a 35 itemised list provided three components, namely shortrange planning, time attitudes, and long-range planning. The researchers found significant positive correlation between academic achievement (such as CGPA) and time attitude. Oran (2009) has shown how students' study time in a semester can be saved by re-structuring the class-schedules. If the restructured classschedules are implemented, the author is of the opinion that about a month's time can be saved in a typical semester. Though, it is basically a research on students' class schedule, time is used as a parameter and time management concepts have been used to delineate the propositions. Sun and Yang (2009) investigated the relationship between time management practices of higher secondary students in the Shenyang region of China and their learning outcomes. The authors revealed that students felt pressured that are coming from different sources. The strongest pressure was to do well in school and to pass the national college entrance examinations. Then, another strong pressure was parents' pressure followed by pressure from the greater society. Surprisingly, the students felt that the least pressure came from their school and teachers. Karakose (2015) found positive correlation between medical students' time management skills and their academic performance. In particular, the author found that female students demonstrated superior skills in time management compared to their male counterparts. In the meantime, a research on time management in academic setting also suggest that developing the school principal's time management capacities may be a worth-while strategy in increasing higher priority tasks and reducing stress (Grissom et al., 2015). The researchers derived this strategy from their empirical study that examined time management among 300 school principals in the USA and linked time management to their key outcomes. Kouali and Pashiardis (2015) also conducted another empirical research on Cypriot primary school principals and found three different time management profiles of principals. They are centralised monochrons, procrastinative managers, and decentralised polychrons. They maintain that principals who adopt decentralised polychrons manage time better than others. On the other hand, Alvarez Sainz et al. (2019) observed that students lack sound time management skills. They deduce that it is the educational system that should ensure developing these skills among students. The authors also contend that students focus only on short-term planning and lack habits and attitudes for long term.

Time Management and Job Performance
A number of researchers have also investigated the relationship between time management and job performance. Woodward and Geissler (1999), through an empirical research, identified the management skills required for students in the textile programs, i.e., to be successful as managers in the textile industry. The respondents, who were managers in the same industry, said that the new entrylevel managers must have the following skills especially leadership, problem solving, decision making, and time management. Overall, from the survey, it was highlighted that time management is an important skill that is necessary in order to perform well in the textile industry. Green and Skinner (2005) conducted a survey on 233 participants and found that the majority of the participants recorded significant improvement of performance in the following areas, i.e., planning, prioritising, and assertiveness. They also found that the median improvement of personal effectiveness was 20%. In the context of selected parastatals in Kenya, Njagi and Malel (2012) found a statistically positive correlation of 0.674 between time management and job performance. The researchers concluded that since there was significant positive correlation between time management and job performance, therefore, adequate training should be provided to the managers on time management. In another related research, Afsaneh et al. (2019) investigated the extent time management skills are associated with self-efficacy. The researchers found that poor time management, planning and organisation skills have a negative effect on self-efficacy.

Al-Wasatiyyah
Al-wasatiyyah is an Arabic word which means "an individual or group of attributes and practices as being moderate and adjusted" (Yousif, 2015). It additionally implies a disposition, which is in opposition to being indulged in extremism and excessiveness. Other words that are commonly used for al-wasatiyyah are balanced, standard, intermediacy, midpoint, and adequate (Hassan, 2013). Al-wasatiyyah is more meaningful today due to the increased religio-political difficulties postured by the rising ebbs and flows of religious extremism, radicalism, and savagery (Mujani et al., 2015).
Islamic moderation is a concept derived directly from four sources. The main source is the Qur'an that portrays the ummah as ummatan wasatan (Al-Baqarah, 2: 143). The second source is the Qur'anic directive to evade fanatic religious practices (Al-Anaam, 6: 153). The prophetic standard is the third source that expresses "the best of undertakings is that which is most just (or more adjusted)" and the last source is the significance that Islam provides for the quest for far reaching information of the world we live in so that our life is edified by such learning and wisdom.

Time Management from Al-Wasatiyyah Perspective
As mentioned previously, the term al-wasatiyyah has been derived from the word wasat in Arabic which means to be moderate or to be in the middle. Islam encourages to be balanced in all activities that we do in our daily life including talking, eating, drinking, sleeping, spending, and so on. Extreme practices in any of these activities can bring negative consequences. This means that we need to make a balance in our lives. Regarding spending, Allah (swt) says (Al-Isra, 17: 29): "And do not make your hand (as) chained to your neck (spending) or extend it completely and (thereby) become blamed insolvent." In some related verses, Allah (swt) says: And those who, when they spend, are neither extravagant nor miserly, and it (i.e., their spending) is moderate in between (the two extremes) (Al-Furqan, 25: 67).
And fight in the cause of Allah (against) those who fight you, (but) do not transgress limits, indeed Allah does not love the transgressors (Al-Baqarah, 2: 190).
The above verses amply underscore the importance of striking a balance in all our worldly activities. Since time is required to carry out all activities, therefore, there is a need to be mindful of not spending excessive time on certain activity. Many Qur'anic verses and hadiths are related with time management that encouraged people to use their time wisely. Several theories have also been discussed by scholars that show the importance of time in every sphere of human life.
Life in this world is temporary. People do not know when death has been destined for them. Everyone must value time for the obedience of Allah (swt). For the success of human life, nobody should waste his/her valuable time. Al-Jeraisy (2008) considers time as one of the gifts that Allah (swt) has given to individuals. According to the Islamic teachings, Allah's endowments are incalculable. Allah (swt) says in the Qur'an: "And if you would count the favour of Allah you cannot reckon it. Lo! Allah is indeed Forgiving, Merciful" (An-Nahl, 16: 18).
The Qur'an stresses the value of time in many ways and contexts. For instance, deeds and their means, administration and organisation, universe and creation, and creation-creator relationship are all related to the time dimension. Allah (swt) says: "Surely, the number of months according to Allah is twelve (as written) in the Book of Allah on the day He created the Heavens and the Earth, of which there are four sacred months" (At-Tawbah, 9: 36). One hadith explains the above as narrated by Sayyidina Abu Bakr As-Siddiq (ra): The Prophet (pbuh) said: Time has come back to its original state which it had when Allah created the Heavens and the Earth; the year is of twelve months, four of which are sacred. Three of them are in succession: Dhul Qa'dah, Dhul Hijjah, and Muharram, and (the fourth being) Rajab which stands between Jumad (ath-thani) and Shaban" (Bukhari, vol. 6, book 60, no. 184).
From the Qur'an, we also find that many acts of worships are related with time. For example, Allah (swt) says in the Qur'an about starting the month of fasting (Ramadan): The month of Ramadan in which was revealed the Qur'an, a guidance for mankind, and clear proofs of the guidance, and the Criterion (of right and wrong). And whosoever of you are present and witness the month let him fast in the month (Al-Baqarah, 2: 185).
And also He mentioned the same for prayers by saying: "Establish worship (prayers) at the going down of the sun until the dark of night and (the recital of) the Qur'an at dawn. Lo! (the recital of) the Qur'an at dawn is ever witnessed" (Al-Isr'a 17: 78).
The Qur'an has accentuated on overseeing time by relating it to the movement of the day and the night. Allah (swt) says in the Qur'an: "Behold! In the creation of the Heavens and the Earth, and the alternation of Night and Day, there are indeed Signs for men of understanding" (Al-Imran, 3: 190).
We should comprehend the wisdom and the motivation behind time and to figure out how we can utilise it viably for our advancement, development, and improvement and not to fall prey to its negativities of either squandering or spending it in futile manner.
Hassan (2013) provides a conceptual framework of al-wasatiyyah, where he stresses that the structure of al-wasatiyyah stands on three pillars: excellence and goodness; justice; and balance/moderation. Kamali (2010) also contends that al-wasatiyyah is a multi-dimensional concept. However, there are no unique set of dimensions of al-wasatiyyah where opinions of all the scholars have converged. For example, Kamali's (2010) propositions on al-wasatiyyah are wider than the dimensions of al-wasatiyyah in Hassan's (2013) work. Summarily, based upon the behavioural principles enshrined in the Qur'an, hadith, and scholars' writings on al-wasatiyyah, the following items (variables) are extracted by the authors of this paper as follows: • Working with sincerity/pure intention (niyyah) • Keeping trust (amanah) • Performing a job efficiently and perfectly (itqan) • Maintaining healthy inter-relationship with good faith among employees (at-ta'awun wa at-tarabut) • Ensuring fairness in task assignment (adl) • Thinking and working positively with goodness (al-khairiyyah) • Practicing values in workplace (al-qiam) • Performing individual responsibilities (al-mas' uliyyah al-fardiyyah) • Following the middle path to avoid excessiveness in workplace (wasatan) Subsequently, in this research, all these variables are conceptualised to have positive relationships with employees' job performance. This is as illustrated in Figure 1.

METHODS
This research is carried out to get the perception of employees on time management in relation to job performance based on the Islamic perspective. A self-explanatory questionnaire in English was designed which consist of two parts: demography (e.g., gender, age, education, and working experience) and questions related to time management and job performance in the organisation from al-wasatiyyah perspective.
The questionnaire was structured in such a way as to make it easier for the respondents to proceed from one question to the next. A 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree was used for the questionnaire items. The items on time management were adapted from Macan (1994) and Macan et al.'s (1990) time management behaviour scale. On the other hand, the items on job performance and al-wasatiyyah were developed from the reviews of literature (Abduljabbar et al., 2012;Hassan, 2013;Hanapi, 2014;Ahmad et al., 2012). The variables on time management, al-wasatiyyah, and job performance are provided in Table 4, Table 8, and Appendix, respectively. Various constructs on time management were generated through the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of which the details are provided in the "Exploratory Factor Analysis" section.
A pre-test was performed to enhance the clarity of the items and improve face validity of the items. An evaluation form was designed to get feedback on the questionnaire items and communicated with two professors in the first author's department. No major comments were received on the questionnaire items from them except some suggestions of rewording some of the items. A reliability test was also conducted to know whether or not accurate and precise results could be obtained from the measurements made on the study's variables from the instrument used.

Population Sample
Malaysian Muslim employees who are working in different organisations were the population for this research. In particular, the researchers contacted the employees who were working in the academic, health, financial, pharmaceutical, and telecommunication sectors located in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
To obtain a better response rate, the lead researcher personally distributed the questionnaire following probability sampling procedure. A total of 330 questionnaires were distributed to the respondents of which 223 completed questionnaires (67.57%) were found valid for further analysis. The sample size was determined following the rule of thumb: five times the number of items in the questionnaire (Hair et al., 2018). According to this rule, the present sample size 223 can be considered as acceptable. After collecting the data, internal consistency was checked by using the Cronbach alpha (α) test.

Data Analysis Procedure
In order to reduce the number of variables on time management, the EFA was conducted using the principal axis factoring method with varimax rotation and a cut-off value of 0.6 for factor loadings. Finally, the multiple regression analysis was applied considering job performance as the dependent variable (DV) and the factors generated from EFA as the independent variables (IVs). Data analysis was carried out using the SPSS version 25.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Results are discussed in two separate parts: In the first part, sections "Demography," "Reliability," "Exploratory Factor Analysis," and "Multiple Regression Analysis" pertain to time management and job performance. In the second part, the section "Relationship between Al-Wasatiyyah and Job Performance" deals with al-wasatiyyah and job performance.

Demography
Table 1 provides the demographic information of respondents in terms of gender, age, education, and working experience. The percentages of male and female respondents for this research are 48.9% and 51.1%, respectively. Most (69.1%) of the respondents' education level is master's degree, while the rest have bachelor's degree (14.8%), PhD (9.9%), and diploma (6.3%). Among all the age groups mentioned in Table 1, 45.6% of the respondents' age is between 30 to less than 40 years. The highest percentage for working experience lies in the group of less than 5 years (39.5%) whereas the second highest is 30% with 5 to less than 10 years working experience.

Reliability
The reliability test was conducted to verify the internal consistency of the variables in the constructs. Table 2 provides the Cronbach alpha (α) value for all the three constructs. Since Cronbach alpha (α) values for all the constructs are more than 0.7, the internal consistency among the variables belonging to the constructs is therefore acceptable.

Exploratory Factor Analysis
The EFA was conducted to reduce the number of items in time management. As mentioned in the Methods section, varimax rotation was used to define the factors obtained from the variables. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used for data reduction. A factor loading threshold value of 0.50 was used for retaining items in the factor. Factors were generated for eigenvalue 1.0 or more. Table 3 displays the EFA results on time management where the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) value is 0.777 which is more than the threshold value of 0.50. Since KMO value is a measure of sample adequacy, the present sample is deemed to be acceptable. On the other hand, the Bartlett's test of sphericity is highly significant (p < 0.001). This means that significant relationships exist among the variables which are necessary to perform the EFA. Therefore, it can be concluded that the data are suitable for the EFA.
The values of communalities of all the variables are more than 0.50. Therefore, a minimum of 50% variation in any of the items is explained by the factor model. Eight factors that explained 64.786% of total variance were obtained from the EFA. The values of factor loading lie between 0.507 and 0.859. High factor loadings for all the variables imply robustness in the factor model. Four items were excluded as their factor loadings were below 0.50. The individual items belonging to the eight factors are shown in the third column of Table 4.

Multiple Regression Analysis
The multiple regression analysis (MRA) was conducted with the eight factors as the IVs and the overall job performance as the DV. The basic purpose of conducting the MRA is to investigate whether any significant relationship exists between time management factors and job performance. The model postulated for this study is: JP = α + β 1 SDRG + β 2 PB + β 3 TMI + β 4 CB + β 5 OF + β 6 PD + β 7 PT + β 8 US + e The full forms of the variable names are provided in Table 4. Table 5 shows the model summary results including R 2 and Adjusted R 2 values. Here, the adjusted R 2 is 0.342 which means that about 34.2 % variation in DV is explained by the IVs included in the model. In addition, ANOVA (in the context of the MRA) tests the significance of relationships between the DV and the IVs, particularly whether the DV depends on any of the IVs. The test revealed a statistically significant relationship between the DV and IVs (see Table 6). This means that job performance depends on all or at least some of the factors of time management. The results are consistent with the findings of Amponsah-Tawiah et al. (2018) in the sense that superior time management skills enhance job performance.
The results also concur with Claessens et al. (2007) who assert that employees need to develop better time management skills, especially identifying priorities, remaining organised, and monitoring one's own progress. The present findings also corroborate with the outcome of the empirical research conducted by Abduljabbar et al. (2012). Researchers in both works conclude that time planning (that includes prioritisation of tasks and usage of schedule) and time attitude are positively related to job performance.

Relationship between Al-Wasatiyyah and Job Performance
The MRA was also conducted with the nine variables of al-wasatiyyah as the IVs and the overall job performance as the DV. Note that unlike the time management items, no EFA was performed for the variables of al-wasatiyyah as its initial number of items is already less. The regression model used is presented below: JP = α + β 1 W 1 + β 2 W 2 + β3W3 + β4W4 + β 5 W 5 + β 6 W 6 + β 7 W 7 + β 8 W 8 + β 9 W 9 + e The details of the variables are shown in Table 8. The R 2 and adjusted R 2 values of the regression test are found to be 0.326 and 0.298, respectively. Therefore, only about 30% of variation in job performance is explained by al-wasatiyyah variables. ANOVA global test result is found to be highly significant (as shown in Table 9). Therefore, at least some, if not all, of the al-wasatiyyah variables are significantly related with job performance.  While taking cognizance of the above findings and in the light of surah Al-Asr (especially on the second thrust area: doing righteous deeds), it can be contended that managers need to assign tasks to employees in a fair and equitable manner and that all the executives and employees in the organisation could practise and promote Islamic values and ethics while discharging their job responsibilities.  The first al-wasatiyyah variable which is significantly related to job performance has direct link with the following hadith. Narrated by Umar bin Khattab (ra) while on the pulpit, he disclosed that the Messenger of Allah (swt) said, "The reward of deeds depends upon the intentions and every person will get the reward according to what he has intended. So whoever emigrated for worldly benefits or for a woman to marry, his emigration was for that what he emigrated for" (Sahih Bukhari, vol. 1, book 1, hadith no. 1).
Furthermore, the present findings empirically show that those who follow the middle path in their organisation exhibit superior job performance. Indeed, this is also directly linked with the Qur'anic verse that encourages Muslims to embrace a balanced life (see Al-Baqarah, 2: 143). Allah (swt) also says (Al-Isr'a, 17: 110): "Neither say your prayer loud, nor say it in a low tone." Certainly, Islam prescribes people to follow the middle path in living their lives.

MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS
In view of the findings of this research, managers of organisations can make some policy adjustments in order to further enhance performance of their organisations. It is a well-known fact that an organisation's performance depends, among others, on how the employees utilise their time (Abduljabbar et al., 2012). Notwithstanding, managers can exercise the following practices: • Should organise training programs for better time management. Each employee should be encouraged to attend this training. Expert facilitators can shed light on how the people can best utilise their time professionally while working in the organisation. The training can also highlight ways on how to manage their time even at the personal level.
• Time management workshops can be organised where employees can share their ways of managing their own time. By doing so, they can learn from each other.
• Special emphasis should be placed to train employees on how to (1) set deadlines, (2) break activities into manageable tasks, (3) prioritise tasks, and (4) use schedule.
• To keep the employees motivated, there should be fair and equitable distribution of works among employees.
• Managers should lead by examples in managing time. Practicing ethics and good values should be a culture that should permeate every level of the organisation. Managers should also identify all time wasters including non-value added and unnecessary meetings and replace those by more productive activities.
• Managers should also promote the concept of al-wasatiyyah among his/her employees and encourage them to apply the principles of al-wasatiyyah in the organisation as well as in their personal lives.

CONCLUSION
Successful people utilise their time judiciously. Time is an amanah entrusted by Allah (swt) to every human being. On the Day of Judgement, Allah (swt) will ask how this amanah has been protected, i.e., how a person utilised his or her time in this mundane world. In fact, all the accounts of activities are being recorded in an invisible book. This research highlights two aspects of time management. Firstly, some components of time management have significant positive relationship with job performance. Secondly, al-wasatiyyah concepts in managing time have a significant relationship with job performance. In particular, time management instrument, prioritisation of tasks, and usage of schedules are found to have strong relationship with job performance. At the same time, it is found that four concepts of al-wasatiyyah have positive relationship with job performance. This includes working with sincerity which helps in managing time for better job performance, following the middle path to avoid excessiveness in working place as a means for better job performance, practicing values in working place as a means for better job performance, and ensuring fairness in task assignment as a means for better job performance. Hence, it is recommended that managers of organisations take cognizance of the above findings of this research to enhance employee's job performance and consequently boost the performance of the whole organisation.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
This study investigated the issue of time management in a quantitative way. It did not employ any qualitative research design. Therefore, to better understand the social analysis of time management, future research can be conducted using qualitative research method. Furthermore, for both quantitative as well as qualitative studies, samples can be drawn from different types of professionals, i.e., those who are working in different industries and possibly from different countries, and not limiting to the Malaysian context only.