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The effect of task switching on productivity: evidence from major league baseball pitchers

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

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The effect of task switching on productivity: evidence from major league baseball pitchers. / Farnell, Alex; Mills, Brian; O’Sullivan, Vincent et al.
In: Oxford Economic Papers, 21.02.2025.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Harvard

Farnell, A, Mills, B, O’Sullivan, V, Simmons, R & Berri, D 2025, 'The effect of task switching on productivity: evidence from major league baseball pitchers', Oxford Economic Papers. https://doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpaf004

APA

Farnell, A., Mills, B., O’Sullivan, V., Simmons, R., & Berri, D. (2025). The effect of task switching on productivity: evidence from major league baseball pitchers. Oxford Economic Papers. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpaf004

Vancouver

Farnell A, Mills B, O’Sullivan V, Simmons R, Berri D. The effect of task switching on productivity: evidence from major league baseball pitchers. Oxford Economic Papers. 2025 Feb 21. Epub 2025 Feb 21. doi: 10.1093/oep/gpaf004

Author

Farnell, Alex ; Mills, Brian ; O’Sullivan, Vincent et al. / The effect of task switching on productivity : evidence from major league baseball pitchers. In: Oxford Economic Papers. 2025.

Bibtex

@article{253ac7929f344db0acf456d3fe058d43,
title = "The effect of task switching on productivity: evidence from major league baseball pitchers",
abstract = "There are few opportunities, outside of a laboratory setting, to study how workers respond to the demands of task switching. A priori, task switching might either harm or benefit productivity, and thus it becomes an empirical question. Faced with difficulties in the measurement of productivity and task switching, we turn to an industry that produces accurate, detailed, and comparable measures of worker production, namely starting pitchers in Major League Baseball. Our results suggest that task switching, between pitching and batting, can improve subsequent pitching performance, though heterogeneity in this effect is present. We discuss implications for wider labour market settings.",
author = "Alex Farnell and Brian Mills and Vincent O{\textquoteright}Sullivan and Robert Simmons and David Berri",
year = "2025",
month = feb,
day = "21",
doi = "10.1093/oep/gpaf004",
language = "English",
journal = "Oxford Economic Papers",
issn = "0030-7653",
publisher = "Oxford University Press",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - The effect of task switching on productivity

T2 - evidence from major league baseball pitchers

AU - Farnell, Alex

AU - Mills, Brian

AU - O’Sullivan, Vincent

AU - Simmons, Robert

AU - Berri, David

PY - 2025/2/21

Y1 - 2025/2/21

N2 - There are few opportunities, outside of a laboratory setting, to study how workers respond to the demands of task switching. A priori, task switching might either harm or benefit productivity, and thus it becomes an empirical question. Faced with difficulties in the measurement of productivity and task switching, we turn to an industry that produces accurate, detailed, and comparable measures of worker production, namely starting pitchers in Major League Baseball. Our results suggest that task switching, between pitching and batting, can improve subsequent pitching performance, though heterogeneity in this effect is present. We discuss implications for wider labour market settings.

AB - There are few opportunities, outside of a laboratory setting, to study how workers respond to the demands of task switching. A priori, task switching might either harm or benefit productivity, and thus it becomes an empirical question. Faced with difficulties in the measurement of productivity and task switching, we turn to an industry that produces accurate, detailed, and comparable measures of worker production, namely starting pitchers in Major League Baseball. Our results suggest that task switching, between pitching and batting, can improve subsequent pitching performance, though heterogeneity in this effect is present. We discuss implications for wider labour market settings.

U2 - 10.1093/oep/gpaf004

DO - 10.1093/oep/gpaf004

M3 - Journal article

JO - Oxford Economic Papers

JF - Oxford Economic Papers

SN - 0030-7653

ER -