Polychronicity and the Inventory of Polychronic Values (IPV):The development of an instrument to measure a fundamental dimension of organizational culture

The ten-item Inventory of Polychronic Values (IPV), a psychometric measure of polychronicity (the extent to which people in a culture prefer to be engaged in two or more tasks or events simultaneously and believe their preference is the best way to do things), was developed using data from 11 samples (N = 2,190) collected from bank employees, undergraduate students, hospital personnel, dentists and their staffs, and state agency managers. Principal components, alpha, correlation, and confirmatory factor analyses supported the IPV in its internal consistency, test-retest reliability, content adequacy, construct validity (both discriminant and convergent), and nomological validity.