In Search of the Relationship Between Polychronicity and Multitasking Performance The Importance of Trait Self-Control

In this age of mobile technology, individuals find themselves constantly bombarded by competing demands, which often leads to multitasking. Although polychronicity (preference for multitasking) has been proposed to be a key predictor of multitasking performance, findings have in fact been mixed. This study proposes that self-control may moderate the effects of polychronicity on multitasking performance (i.e., trait self-control obscures the polychronicity-performance relationship). In 186 participants, compared to sequential task completion multitasking had a negative impact on task performance. Polychronicity was not found to be positively associated with task performance when multitasking, but there was a positive polychronicity-performance association among individuals with low self-control.