Waiting in organisations

Abstract

Waiting is a pervasive feature of organisational life and, as such, is likely to be important for a range of individual and organisational outcomes. Although extant research has shed light on the waiting experiences of diverse groups such as those suffering from illness, waiting in detention centres or queuing, there have been no previous attempts to theorise waiting specifically from the perspective of the employee. To address this gap, we draw on theories of temporality and waiting in fields such as consumer behaviour as well as the wider social sciences to develop the notion of ‘situated waiting’ which uncovers the complexity of the lived experience of waiting from the perspective of the employee. This experience is associated with factors at the level of the individual, the wait itself, and the broader waiting context. We outline the implications for future research on this hitherto hidden domain of the employee experience.