Polychronicity at work: Work engagement as a mediator of the relationships between job outcomes

The hospitality business is characterized by a rigorous work-related environment. Whenever the time use preferences are considered, task switching among multiple tasks within a given time block becomes an essential ingredient. In a restaurant environment, it is important to comprehend whether the restaurant server prefers to participate in assigned tasks or switch between these tasks as it directly affects the level of participant's work engagement. The objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive assessment of the relationship among polychronicity with time use preference, work engagement, job performance, and turnover intentions in the restaurant context. We examined the individuals' preferences for carrying out multiple tasks at the same time. A sample of 360 respondents was arranged that were full-time restaurant servers working at round the clock service restaurants in Pakistan. The PLS-SEM was utilized to analyse the hypotheses and determine the indirect impact of mediation on the aforementioned performance measures. Model outcomes indicated that the polychronicity at the restaurant business negatively predicts the employee turnover intention. Several important managerial insights are obtained that could help the restaurant managers to select the job seekers who might best fit in their business objectives. Furthermore, the results of this study will help the restaurant servers to determine the career path that best suits their personality traits.