Why do we multitask with media? Predictors of media multitasking among Internet users in the United States and Taiwan Anastasia Kononova a,⇑ , Yi-Hsuan Chiang b a Department of Advertising + Public Relations, College of Communication Arts and Sciences, Michigan State University, 404 Wilson Rd., Room 319, East Lansing, MI 48824, United States b Department of Radio, Television, and Film, Shih Hsin University, Taipei, Taiwan article info Article history: Available online 10 April 2015 Keywords: Media multitasking Media ownership Polychronicity Motivations to multitask with media Taiwan United States abstract The study explored how media and audience factors, such as country of residence, media ownership, polychronicity, or the preference to do multiple things at the same time, predict media multitasking behaviors and if different motivations to multitask mediate the effects of these factors. The study is based on a cross-cultural survey (N = 1972) that included respondents from the United States and Taiwan. The findings indicated that media ownership, polychronicity, and four motivations (control, entertainment, connection, and addiction) positively predicted media multitasking behaviors. The four motivations were also found to mediate the effect of media ownership. American respondents were higher polychronics and heavier multitaskers than their Taiwanese counterparts. In the Taiwanese sample, polychronicity and motivations increased the effects of media ownership on media multitasking. In the American sam- ple, polychronicity contributed little to the effect of media ownership, and the mediating role of motiva- tions decreased with the increase in the level of polychronicity. Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction With the development of new technologies that offer con- sumers numerous ways to satisfy needs in information, communi- cation, and entertainment, media multitasking has become an important object of exploration. While new, increasingly interac- tive electronic media provide individuals with terabytes of content, they also fight for people’s time and attention. Although having unlimited media options, humans have limited time to process information they receive from multiple sources on a daily basis. Thus, they often multitask. The habit of multitasking with media has increased significantly during 2000s with the growing uses of information and communi- cation technologies (ICT; Roberts, Foehr, & Rideout, 2005). The growing body of literature on the topic focuses on three main areas: media multitasking patterns (Foehr, 2006; Rideout, Foehr, & Roberts, 2010), antecedents (Jeong & Fishbein, 2007; Wang & Tchernev, 2012), and effects (e.g., Wang et al., 2012; Zhang, Jeong, & Fishbein, 2010). Research about the patterns of media multitasking describes what media uses and other activities people tend to combine; and studies about antecedents and effects explore media multitasking predictors and outcomes. The out- comes of multitasking with media have been examined in multiple studies (e.g., Armstrong & Chung, 2000; Bowman, Levine, Waite, & Gendron, 2010; Furnham & Bradley, 1997; Furnham, Gunter, & Peterson, 1994; Jeong, Hwang, & Fishbein, 2010; Junco & Cotten, 2011; Levine, Waite, & Bowman, 2007; Pool, Koolstra, & van der Voort, 2003; Salvucci & Macuga, 2002; Salvucci, Markley, Zuber, & Brumby, 2007; Zhang et al., 2010), while the literature about pre- dictors of media multitasking calls for further development. The present research contributes to the existing body of knowledge about media multitasking antecedents by examining media and audience factors that predict the extent of media multitasking in different cultures. Determining and understanding the context in which media multitasking is facilitated leads to better explanation of its outcomes and informs strategies to deal with the conse- quences of this increasingly popular media use behavior. The present research offers a cross-cultural investigation of media multitasking behaviors and its antecedents. The study was conducted in two countries: United States and Taiwan, which allowed to compare the results on a macro, market, level. Media- and audience-level predictors of media multitasking, such as media ownership and polychronicity, or the preference to perform multiple things in the same period of time, were examined and compared cross-culturally. The study also explored what motivates individuals in two different countries to use media concurrently http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.03.052 0747-5632/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 517 432 5129. E-mail addresses: kononova@msu.edu (A. Kononova), yihsuan@cc.shu.edu.tw (Y.-H. Chiang). Computers in Human Behavior 50 (2015) 31–41 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Computers in Human Behavior journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comphumbeh