The electronegativity of an atom changes depending on the hybridization of the orbital employed in bonding.  Electrons in s orbitals are held more tightly than electrons in p orbitals. Hence, a bond to an atom that employs an sp hybrid orbital for bonding will be more heavily polarized to that atom when the hybrid orbital has more s character.  That is, when electronegativities are compared for different hybridization schemes of a given element, the order  holds (the trend should apply to non-integer hybridization indices as well).  While this holds true in principle for any main-group element, values for the hybridization-specific electronegativity are most frequently cited for carbon. In organic chemistry, these electronegativities are frequently invoked to predict or rationalize bond polarities in organic compounds containing double and triple bonds to carbon.