Multitasking and Work-Life Balance: Explicating Multitasking When Working from Home

Abstract

The present study explicates four types of multitasking when working from home according to their medium and social interactivity, and further explores the antecedent and consequences of different types of multitasking. A total of 429 U.S. employees who worked from home participated in an online survey in August 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results indicated that a balance between work and life identities was positively associated with technology-mediated and in-person high-interactive multitasking during work time, but not with low-interactive multitasking. In-person high-interactive multitasking, in turn, was related to greater interference with work but a higher level of life satisfaction. In addition, men and women experienced different levels of work-life identity balance and adopted different types of multitasking to achieve such a balance.