Search results

This study aims to examine the effects of organizational polychronicity on individual adaptive performance. Drawing on conservation of resources theory and the perspective of individual differences in pressure perceptions, this study develops a conceptual model to test the mediating role of time pressure and the moderating role of trait regulatory focus in the relationship between organizational polychronicity and individual adaptive performance.

A three-wave survey was conducted to investigate a sample of 591 employees who engaged in innovative activities in China. The hypotheses were tested using hierarchical multiple regression and bootstrapping.

The results show that organizational polychronicity is negatively related to individual adaptive performance via time pressure. Promotion focus weakens the positive relationship between organizational polychronicity and time pressure and the mediating role of time pressure, while prevention focus augments the positive relationship between organizational polychronicity and time pressure and the mediating role of time pressure.

This study reveals the mediating role of time pressure in the relationship between organizational polychronicity and individual adaptive performance, as well as the moderating role of trait regulatory focus in this relationship, thereby deepening our understanding of organizational polychronicity from both a theoretical and a practical perspective.

Despite the deployment of state-of-the-art methodologies for project management, employee turnover in projects remains high. Such turnover has significant costs in terms of replacing personnel, potential deadline overruns and financial expenditure. Employee turnover in project contexts may stem from time-related issues associated with multiple parallel projects and short deadlines. Using person–environment fit and time congruence theories, this research examines the relationship between employee turnover intentions and individual–organizational (I–O) polychronicity fit, which captures the degree of match between individuals’ and organizational preferences for focusing on multiple tasks simultaneously.

Survey data were collected from 309 software project employees in Pakistan. Hypotheses were tested using polynomial regressions and response surface modeling.

I–O polychronicity fit is related to turnover intentions. Turnover intentions are lower when I–O polychronicity fit occurs on the lower end of the polychronicity continuum, whereas turnover intentions are higher when fit is observed on the higher end of the polychronicity continuum. The relationship between I–O polychronicity fit and turnover intentions is significantly explained by exhaustion and perceptions of work overload.

The study’s insights provide recommendations for organizations to optimally manage multitasking to help retain project employees.

These findings extend our understanding of the underlying mechanisms between I–O polychronicity fit and turnover intentions. Furthermore, this research expounds on how employee exhaustion and perceptions of work overload explain the relationship between I–O polychronicity fit and turnover intentions.

As part of the developing attention being paid to time in organization science, this chapter discusses two temporal dimensions – polychronicity and speed – and develops propositions relating these two temporal dimensions to other organization science variables. The propositions are specified according to levels of analysis, at least three of which are considered in propositions presented for each dimension. Two other temporal dimensions – punctuality and temporal depth – are also described, albeit not as extensively as polychronicity and speed. A fifth temporal phenomenon, entrainment, provides insights into organizational processes as well as the four temporal dimensions. The chapter concludes by outlining some reasons for caution for both theory and practice.

Polychronicity is the extent to which people prefer to be engaged in two or more tasks simultaneously. Relationships between polychronicity and four variables were examined in data from four samples totaling 1,173 participants. Only one statistically significant relationship occurred between polychronicity and propensity for creativity after controlling for other variables. Consistent significant relationships were found, however, between polychronicity and orientation to change (positive), tolerance for ambiguity (positive), and organizational attractiveness (positive or negative depending on whether the organization demonstrated a high or low level of polychronicity, respectively). Concatenated replications reproduced each of these three relationships in at least two samples.

This research explores the determinants and consequences of salesperson polychronicity in a business-to-business (B2B) sales environment. Additionally, the study examined the link between the antecedents and consequences of salesperson polychronicity using resistance to change (RC) and manager trust in salesperson (MT) as moderators.

A conceptual framework was developed by testing eight hypotheses based on data collected from 378 salesperson-manager dyads.

The authors find that opening leader behavior is positively associated with salesperson polychronicity, while closing leader behavior negatively influences salesperson polychronicity. In addition, salesperson polychronicity positively affects service recovery performance and customer-directed organizational citizen behaviors (OCB). Finally, the RC and MT significantly and positively moderate the linkage between the antecedents and consequences of salesperson polychronicity.

This study is original because this is the first study to address polychronicity as an individual trait in a B2B environment where multitasking behavior is of paramount importance.

Past research recognizes the important influence of individual beliefs on technology acceptance and use. This line of research has also identified a variety of factors that drive the formation of these beliefs. One category of variables that has received less attention in this research stream consists of individual preferences, in particular time‐use preferences. In the current study we address the gap in the technology acceptance literature by introducing and empirically testing a new construct labeled computer polychronicity, which captures individuals’ time‐use preferences regarding information technology. A new measure of computer polychronicity is developed and subsequently tested using partial least squares estimation. Computer polychronicity is then theorized as a key driver of perceived usefulness, linking computer anxiety and computer playfulness to perceived usefulness. Overall, the results of model testing support the notion that preferences play an important role in the formation of technology‐related beliefs.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to examine whether polychronicity, an individual difference variable that involves a preference for multitasking, moderates the relationships between work-family conflict (WFC) and two work criteria, job satisfaction and work engagement; second, to examine two measures of polychronicity (the multitasking preference inventory (MPI) and the inventory of polychronic values (IPV)) and investigate whether polychronicity moderates the relationships between WFC and work criteria differently when measured by the MPI or the IPV.

The study’s sample included 257 respondents from the Amazon Mechanical Turk service who completed an online survey. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to test whether polychronicity moderated the relationships between WFC and two work criteria, job satisfaction and work engagement.

Polychronicity was found to significantly moderate the relationship between the work engagement and WFC. Follow-up analyses indicated that those who were lower in polychronicity had a significant decrease in work engagement as WFC increased, whereas those who were higher in polychronicity had relatively the same work engagement level regardless of changes in WFC. The results suggest that individuals higher in polychronicity have more personal resources and may be more resilient than those lower in polychronicity when it comes to not letting conflicts between their work and family lives affect how engaged they feel in their work.

This study extends the application of polychronicity to new domains of WFC and work engagement. The current study also contributed to the literature by investigating two measures of polychronicity (MPI and IPV) and finding that the MPI significantly moderated the relationship between WFC and work engagement, but the IPV did not. These findings indicate that there are important differences between the MPI and the IPV, and additional research is needed in comparing these two polychronicity measures.

The purpose of this paper is to measure polychronicity in Spain, traditionally typified as having a polychronic culture, characterized by a multifocused working environment.

A sample of 134 executives from 19 organizations in Madrid completed a questionnaire on polychronicity (working on more than one task at a time), time tangibility (precision in time use and performance), context (direct or indirect communication) and attention to people (whether people are dealt with spontaneously or in a more scheduled manner).

Contrary to what was expected in light of the traditional image of Spain, results indicate a tendency towards monochronicity. Gender and age did not show a relation with polychronicity. Time tangibility and context were also unrelated to polychronicity. A previously unmeasured variable, implied in Hall's original work, the spontaneous attention to people in establishing and maintaining good work relations, was positively related to polychronicity. Having worked for a multinational was also positively related to polychronicity.

The study was undertaken in Madrid only and focused on differences within a Spanish sample and no cross‐cultural comparison was made.

As far as the authors are aware, this is the first study of polychronicity in Spain. Social interaction, coined previously as an explanation for polychronic behavior, was added in this paper.

This paper provided construct validity evidence for polychronicity in two related studies. Study 1 assessed the relationship between individuals’ stated polychronicity preferences and peer ratings of polychronicity in a multitrait‐multimethod design, which indicated that different raters were able to agree about an individual’s polychronicity. Additional construct validity evidence was provided by linking polychronicity to several potentially related constructs such as achievement striving, impatience/irritability, stress, and performance. In study 2, hypothesized relationships between polychronicity and both time urgency and time management behavior dimensions were supported. In addition, similar relationships between polychronicity and time urgency dimensions were identified across French and US samples. Together, these two studies provide a clearer understanding of the correlates and potential outcomes of polychronicity. Directions for future research are also discussed.

The ten‐item Inventory of Polychronic Values (IPV), a psychometric measure of polychronicity (the extent to which people in a culture prefer to be engaged in two or more tasks or events simultaneously and believe their preference is the best way to do things), was developed using data from 11 samples (N = 2,190) collected from bank employees, undergraduate students, hospital personnel, dentists and their staffs, and state agency managers. Principal components, alpha, correlation, and confirmatory factor analyses supported the IPV in its internal consistency, test‐retest reliability, content adequacy, construct validity (both discriminant and convergent), and nomological validity.