Individual preferences in multiple goal pursuit: Reconsidering the conceptualization and dimensionality of polychronicity
该研究通过三项实验重新检验了多时性（偏好同时处理多任务还是顺序处理）的传统单维度假设，发现多任务偏好与顺序偏好可以共存，且与主观体验相关而非行为绩效。
Abstract With increasing demands in work and life, successful self‐regulation of multiple goals becomes critical to the well‐being and performance of individuals and organizations. When pursuing multiple goals, individuals may use different strategies and have divergent preferences toward these strategies. Polychronicity, or the preference for multitasking over sequential tasking, has long been considered a unidimensional construct with two opposing ends. To empirically test this assumption, we reconstructed existing polychronicity items to explore a new scale that measures preferences separately and synthesizes different operationalizations of multitasking (i.e., concurrent tasking and task switching) (study 1). We found that multitasking and sequential preferences, while related, have distinct components and can co‐occur within individuals, challenging the traditional bipolar assumption (study 2). Finally, we used a behavioral task‐switching paradigm to simulate a multitasking environment. We found that consistent with past research, the preferences were not associated with behavioral performance but were associated with subjective experience (study 3). Our findings suggest that assuming multitasking and sequential preferences are completely antithetical can be an oversimplification. This research opens opportunities for future research on multiple goals.