How and when does multitasking affect customer orientation of hotel employees?

This research aims to investigate how and when multitasking affects customer orientation of hotel employees by examining the mediating role of work engagement and moderating roles of polychronicity and employee voice. The survey was conducted on 536 hotel employees in China and SPSS macro PROCESS was employed to analyze the data. The results indicate that work engagement fully mediates the association between multitasking and customer orientation; polychronicity boosts and employee voice buffers the mediating process. While prior studies have overwhelmingly reported the detrimental effect of multitasking on task performance, this study empirically reveals the motivational merit of multitasking to contextual performance and demonstrates how and when this favorable impact is stronger and weaker. The findings provide both theoretical and practical implications.