How could fit between polychronicity and multitasking shape employees' self-leadership? The moderating role of AI-empowered task processing.

As AI becomes increasingly integrated into the workplace, understanding how prevailing multitasking practices interact with AI support to foster employee self-leadership is essential for enhancing organizational effectiveness. This study elucidates how the fit between multitasking and polychronicity among employees in organizations can synergistically influence their self-leadership within the context of AI empowerment. This study conducts two time-lagged survey studies using polynomial regression analysis, block variable analysis, and response surface methodology based on the "Fit Between Individuals, Tasks and Technology" (FITT) framework and the JD-R theoretical model. Study 1 examined the polychronicity-multitasking fit based on data collected from 116 employees at two time points in an AI company in China. Study 2 tested the mediating and moderating effect based on data of 188 employees from two other AI companies in China at three time points. The results show that congruence between polychronicity and multitasking predicts greater employee self-leadership compared to incongruence, and the higher the degree of congruence, the stronger the self-leadership. For incongruence, the "high-low" state promotes self-leadership better than the "low-high" state. We also reveal the mediating role of thriving at work and the moderating role of AI-empowered task processing between polychronicity-multitasking fit and self-leadership. For well-matched employees, AI serves as a facilitator of task processing, thereby enhancing employee self-leadership; whereas for mismatched ones, AI acts as an additional task burden or as a catalyst that exacerbates the existing imbalance, which impedes the motivation for self-leadership. These findings advance the understanding of self-leadership in multitasking contexts and provide valuable insights for organizations implementing AI tools. This study underscores the critical importance of aligning employees' work preferences with task demands to fully leverage the potential of AI empowerment.