Influence of Multitasking Job Demand on Job Stress with Polychronicity as a Moderator

Abstract

Multitasking job demand has become an important characteristic in many job positions nowadays. But not all individuals can work under multitasking job demand. In the current study, two competing hypotheses were proposed. First, multitasking job demand causes a higher level of job stress perceived by individuals. Second, polychronicity moderates the relationship between multitasking job demand and job stress. Polychronicity is a preference of an individual to perform multiple tasks simultaneously. A quantitative study was conducted and the data was collected through survey questionnaires from employees in different job positions and industries in the Russian Federation. The number of valid questionnaires collected is 402. Descriptive analysis, Pearson correlation analysis, Hierarchical Regression analysis and Structural Equation Modeling were used to test hypothesis. The result shows that multitasking job demand has no significant effect on job stress, and that there is a strong moderating effect of polychronicity on the relationship between multitasking job demand and job stress. The interaction plot shows for those with lower levels of polychronicity, high multitasking job demand resulted in more job stress, while for those with higher levels of polychronicity, high multitasking job demand resulted in less job stress.

Multitasking job demand has become an important characteristic in many job positions nowadays. But not all individuals can work under multitasking job demand. In the current study, two competing hypotheses were proposed. First, multitasking job demand causes a higher level of job stress perceived by individuals. Second, polychronicity moderates the relationship between multitasking job demand and job stress. Polychronicity is a preference of an individual to perform multiple tasks simultaneously. A quantitative study was conducted and the data was collected through survey questionnaires from employees in different job positions and industries in the Russian Federation. The number of valid questionnaires collected is 402. Descriptive analysis, Pearson correlation analysis, Hierarchical Regression analysis and Structural Equation Modeling were used to test hypothesis. The result shows that multitasking job demand has no significant effect on job stress, and that there is a strong moderating effect of polychronicity on the relationship between multitasking job demand and job stress. The interaction plot shows for those with lower levels of polychronicity, high multitasking job demand resulted in more job stress, while for those with higher levels of polychronicity, high multitasking job demand resulted in less job stress.