Task rotation and polychronicity: Effects on individuals' creativity

We contrasted the creativity of individuals who rotated through 3 idea generation tasks (rotation condition) with that of individuals who completed each task before beginning the next (sequential condition). We also examined whether polychronicity (i.e., the number of tasks with which an individual prefers to be involved at the same time) interacted with task condition to affect creativity, and whether perceived time pressure mediated these effects. Data were obtained from 224 undergraduate students (47% men; average age 20.5 years) who completed the tasks in a laboratory setting. Results showed that task condition and polychronicity interacted such that individuals who preferred involvement with multiple tasks exhibited higher creativity in the rotation condition, whereas those who preferred involvement with fewer tasks exhibited higher creativity in the sequential condition. Perceived time pressure mediated these effects. We discuss the implications of these results.