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Given the environmental turbulence surrounding organizations today, polychronicity – the preference to attend to more than one task simultaneously – may be an increasingly important characteristic of individuals, groups, and organizations. Polychronicity and its behavioral counterpart, multitasking, are inextricably linked, but high levels of polychronicity may not lead to productive multitasking behavior, as multitasking can vary tremendously in its implementation and effectiveness. This commentary offers further clarification of the differences between polychronicity and multitasking, and it explores the role of task performance strategies in multitasking behavior.

Time pressures in paid work and household labor have intensified in recent decades because of the increase in dual-earner families and long and nonstandard employment hours. This analysis uses U.S. time-diary data from 1998 to 2000 to investigate the association of employment and household multitasking. Results indicate that mothers do more multitasking than fathers and the gender gap in household labor is largest for the most intense type of multitasking: combining housework and child care. In addition, mothers employed for long hours spend more time multitasking than mothers employed 35–40h per week. It appears that motivations for multitasking are heterogeneous: some multitasking is done out of convenience, whereas other multitaskings are a strategy used to manage too much work in too little time.

This chapter aims to provide an overview and conceptualization of multiscreening in the field of advertising effectiveness.

By means of the multi-dimensions of media multitasking, it is possible to differentiate different forms of media multitasking. This framework is used to describe and explain the phenomenon of multiscreening. The framework consists of four categories each with its own dimensions: (1) task relations (e.g., task hierarchy, task switch, shared modality), (2) task inputs (e.g., information flow), (3) task outputs (e.g., behavioral responses), and (4) user differences. The description of multiscreening per dimensions is completed with a review of recent literature in the field of multiscreening, media multitasking and persuasion.

Literature in the field of media multitasking often assumes detrimental effects. Practical implications for advertisers are discussed by presenting an overview of the existing literature on multiscreening and advertising effectiveness. At the end of the chapter, a summary of the different dimensions is presented and an answer is formulated to the question: Is multiscreening a challenge or opportunity for advertisers?

In addition to practical implications, this chapter also offers an overview of the current research in the field of multiscreening and advertising effects. By presenting recent literature in this field, it becomes clear where knowledge is lacking. Directions for future research are discussed.

This chapter is the first to present a structured overview of the phenomenon of multiscreening. It will provide practitioners and researchers with the current status in the field of multiscreening and advertising effectiveness. In addition, the chapter can also be seen as a guide for future directions in the field of multiscreening.

Based on conservation of resources theory, this study explored the relationship between multitasking and creative work involvement through the mediation of emotional exhaustion, taking regulatory focus as a first-stage moderator.

Based on a three-wave and two-source survey among a sample of 418 employees and 116 leaders, this study conducted multilevel analyses to examine the conceptual model.

The results showed that multitasking was negatively associated with creative work involvement and that emotional exhaustion mediated the relationship between multitasking and creative work involvement. Furthermore, promotion focus and prevention focus moderated the relationship between multitasking and emotional exhaustion and the indirect relationship between multitasking and creative work involvement via emotional exhaustion.

Organizations can promote creative work involvement through interventions that reduce employees' multitasking or emotional exhaustion. In addition, supervisors should be aware of the different responses to multitasking exhibited by employees with different regulatory focuses and could potentially assign multiple tasks to employees with either a high promotion focus or a low prevention focus.

This study contributes to the literature on multitasking and creative work involvement by exploring whether and how multitasking is related to creative work involvement.

The multitasking phenomenon has been prevailing in the technology-driven information environment. People are engaged in multitasking to process information and deal with personal and professional information tasks. This study aims to explore the external predictors of multitasking information behavior (MIB) of library and information science (LIS) professionals from Pakistan.

This is a quantitative study based on a questionnaire survey, and data was collected through Google Form; the link was shared via e-mail and WhatsApp to get maximum responses. The sampling includes the LIS professionals working in Higher Education Commission-recognized universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan. A total of 126 responses were received from 41 universities of KPK.

Pearson correlation and regression were applied by using SPSS for data analysis. The findings revealed that time pressure (TP) is a good predictor of multitasking because when professionals got tasks with deadlines, they try to perform multiple activities at a time. Therefore, TP is a predictor of human MIB. This study also revealed that the work environment is a less significant predictor of MIB, and the use of multiple information resources is a weak predictor of MIB. It is noted that individual covariates were not predictors of the multitasking information. However, TP was the most significant predictor among all the contextual and individual factors predicting MIB.

This research line is significant because MIB is a new dimension of human information behavior among LIS professionals. The findings are beneficial for LIS professionals to increase their work productivity and performance by rationalizing the significant predictors.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no such study is available that highlighted the MIB among LIS professionals. Therefore, this study will highlight external factors’ effects on LIS professionals’ MIB. This study will contribute to the literature on libraries and information management as this study describes the LIS professionals’ behavior.

The study's purpose was to explore the impact of multitasking on efficiency and accuracy and the relationship between individual differences and multitasking ability.

An experimental study was conducted with individuals that completed an in-box exercise and a personality assessment. Three groups were established as follows: those that completed the in-box exercise without interruption (control group), those that were given a portion of the same initial task but were then interrupted and given an additional task (low multitask group) and those that were given the same initial tasks, then interrupted three times (high multitask group).

The results show that there were significant effects of gender and age on multitasking efficiency. Females made fewer errors than males. Younger and older participants took more time to complete the experiment, which indicates an inverted U relationship and may mean that people become more effective at multitasking with experience and practice, but then less effective as they get older. The study also found that personality had no significant effect on multitasking efficiency.

The study was limited in that the sample was 91 percent female, did not include anyone over the age of 51 and did not measure intelligence or experience.

The findings may have implications for employee training, evaluation and formulation of workplace standards and regulations.

This study provides empirical research extending the understanding of the nature and impact of multitasking and individual differences based on gender, age and personality.

Past research suggests that heavy media multitaskers (HMMs) perform worse on tasks that require executive control, compared to light media multitaskers (LMMs). This paper aims to investigate whether individual differences between HMMs and LMMs make them respond differently to advertising in a media multitasking context and whether this stems from differences in the ability versus the motivation to regulate one’s attention. This is investigated by manipulating participants’ autonomy over attention allocation.

For the first study (n = 85), a between subjects design with three conditions was used: sequential, multitasking under low autonomy over attention allocation and multitasking under high autonomy over attention allocation. This study investigated the inhibitory control of HMMs vs LMMs in a very controlled multitasking setting. The second study (n = 91) replicated the design of study one in a more naturalistic media multitasking setting and investigated the driving role of motivation vs ability for cognitive load differences between HMMs and LMMs and the consequent impact on advertising effectiveness.

Study I suggests that HMMs perform worse on a response inhibition task than LMMs after multitasking freely (in which case motivation to regulate attention determines the process), but not after their attention was guided externally by the experimenter (in which case their motivation could no longer determine the process). Study II argues that when motivation to switch attention is at play, cognitive load differences occur between HMMs and LMMs. This study additionally reveals that under these circumstances, HMMs are more persuaded by advertisements (report higher purchase intentions) compared to LMMs, while no differences appear when only ability is at play.

Executive control exists of different components (Miyake et al., 2000). The current study only focused on the impact of media multitasking frequency on response inhibition, but it would be interesting for future research to investigate whether media multitasking frequency equally affects the other sub-dimensions. Additionally, the impairment of response inhibition has been shown to predict a large number of other behavioral and impulse-control outcomes such as unhealthy food choices and alcohol and drug use (e.g. Friese et al., 2008). Future research should consider investigating other consequences of heavy media multitasking behavior, both advertising related and unrelated.

From a practical point of view, understanding the mechanisms that are driving the effects of media multitasking on advertising effectiveness for different groups of media-consumers could make it easier for practitioners to efficiently plan their media campaigns. Based on the findings of this study, the authors can derive that HMMs will be more depleted in cognitive resources and inhibitory control when media multitasking compared to LMMs. Consequently, this makes them more prone to advertising messages. This knowledge is of great importance for advertisers who could, based here on, aim to target HMMs more often than LMMs.

Two experimental studies by the authors confirm and add value to previous academic findings about the negative relation between media multitasking frequency and tasks that demand executive control. This study contributed to the previous by investigating whether individual differences between heavy and light media multitaskers make them respond differently toward advertising and whether the driving mechanism of these differences is a lack of motivation or ability to efficiently shift attention.

The purpose of this paper is to uncover the underlying motives for individuals’ polychronicity, the preference to multitask with media.

For this exploratory study, a qualitative research design is chosen, using face-to-face in-depth interviews and triad groups. In total, 34 in-depth interviews are conducted in the UK, Germany and Australia, with four subsequent triads in the UK.

The underlying motives for individuals’ preference for multiple media use include eight dimensions: comfort with multitasking; multi-channel preference; effectiveness and efficiency; convenience; emotional gratification; information and knowledge; social benefits and assimilation.

A non-probability sample of a specific sample group (Digital Natives) is used in this study and despite the reassurance provided by quality criteria and triangulation, generalisation from this study is problematic. Future research to validate the eight exposed dimensions would be valuable.

For marketing communications and media channel planners, endeavouring to optimise clients’ budgets, the unique knowledge provided by the depth of understanding offered by the eight dimensions of polychronicity and their associated facets enables the development of relevant communication campaigns.

This paper presents a unique insight into individuals’ preference for multiple media use, uncovering the underlying dimensions of this behavioural phenomenon. Accordingly, this study makes a valuable contribution to knowledge in this emerging research domain.

Recent studies show that humans engage in multitasking information behaviors, often in libraries, as they seek and search for information on more than one information task. Multitasking information behaviors may consist of library search and use behaviors, or database or Web search sessions on multiple information tasks. However, few human information behavior models of seeking, searching or use, or library use models, include considerations of multitasking information behavior. This paper reports results from a case study exploring multitasking information behavior by an information seeker in a public library using diary, observation and interview data collection techniques. The information seeker sought information on four unrelated personal information tasks during two public library visits. Findings include a taxonomy of information behaviors; a sequential flowchart of the information seeker's complex and iterative processes, including multitasking information behavior, electronic searches, physical library searches, serendipitous browsing, and successive searches; and that the information seeker engaged in a process of 17 information task switches over two library visits. A model of information multitasking and information task switching is presented. Implications for library services and bibliographic instruction are also discussed.