Multitasking: Perception and Shopping
Marketing Department; Faculty Advisers: Rom Y. Schrift and Gal Zauberman
With technological advancements, the desire, ability, and often necessity to multitask are pervasive. Although multitasking refers to the simultaneous execution of multiple tasks, most activities that require active attention cannot actually be done simultaneously. Therefore, whether a certain activity is considered multitasking is often a matter of perception. The current paper demonstrates the malleability of what people perceive as multitasking, showing that the same activity may or may not be construed as multitasking. Importantly, although engaging in multiple tasks may diminish performance, we find that, holding the activity constant, the mere perception of multitasking in fact improves performance. Across 27 studies with performance-based incentives, totaling 7,286 participants, we find that those who perceived an activity as multitasking were more engaged, and consequently outperformed those who perceived that same activity as single-tasking.
Publications
In the Press:
New research from Wharton marketing professor Rom Schrift and doctoral student Shalena Srna shows that multitasking is a mere illusion because it is impossible to execute more than one task at a time. Nevertheless, the perception of multitasking seems to be beneficial to performance:
“The Real (and Imaginary) Benefits of Multitasking,” Knowledge at Wharton (December 26, 2017). http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/real-imaginary-benefits-multitasking/
Presentations
Booth School of Business, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, October 2017
Bocconi University, Milan, Italy, October 2017
Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, Candad, October 2017
Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, October 2017
Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, September 2017
Annual University of Houston Doctoral Symposium, Houston, TX, April 2017
Society for Consumer Psychology, San Francisco, CA, February 2017
Society for Judgment and Decision Making, Boston, MA, November 2016
Association for Consumer Research, Berlin, Germany, October 2016
Behavioral Decision Research in Management, Toronto, Canada, June 2016
Trans-Atlantic Doctoral Conference, London, UK, May 2016