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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships among goal setting, employee engagement, workplace optimism, and individual performance constructs. Goal setting is hypothesized as positively impacting employee engagement, employee engagement as positively impacting workplace optimism, and workplace optimism as positively impacting individual performance.

Data collected from a sample of 426 full‐ and part‐time employees are analyzed following a structural equation modeling methodology.

The measurement and structural models fit the data relatively well. Goal setting positively impacts employee engagement, employee engagement positively impacts optimism, and optimism positively impacts individual performance, as hypothesized.

Although data are collected from a relatively diverse group of respondents, the ability to generalize the findings is limited because the results are derived from a non‐random sample. All measures are based on the perceptions of the respondents. Job performance is reported by each respondent may not reflect the supervisor's performance rating and is not necessarily consistent with objective performance indicators such as sales generated by a marketing employee.

Results indicate that formal, structured goal setting processes lead to higher levels of employee engagement, that higher levels of engagement lead to improved workplace optimism, and that improved optimism in turn leads to higher levels of individual performance.

The paper provides empirical support for the implementation of management programs that foster goal setting, employee engagement, and workplace optimism for the purpose of enhancing the performance levels of individual employees.

The purpose of this paper is to examine optimism and how facets of subordinates’ psychological characteristics, such as their attitudes and personalities, are similar to their direct supervisors’ (as person-supervisor deep-level similarity or P-S deep-level similarity) in order to understand their interactions with job insecurity in predicting employee job satisfaction.

Empirical study had been conducted. Sample firms in this study consist of eight state-run electric power companies and 16 licensed chemical companies in central Hubei Province in China. In total, 368 valid samples were included in the analyses (with a valid return rate of 73 percent). All constructs were rated on a five-point Likert-type response scale. In order to diminish the possibility of common method biases, the authors used participants’ dyad supervisors to rate P-S deep-level similarity and P-S guanxi. The authors tested the hypotheses by implementing hierarchical linear regression.

The results show that when certain demographic variables (e.g. age, gender, education, post, employment type, income proportion, position) and P-S guanxi are controlled, optimism and P-S deep-level similarity significantly interact with job insecurity to predict job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is bolstered when job security increases among those who report a high level of both optimism and P-S deep-level similarity.

Researchers have found that job insecurity has negative effects on job satisfaction (Sverke et al., 2002). But there is a lack of understanding about the mechanism of how job insecurity affects job satisfaction. In this study, the authors found that optimism and P-S deep level similarity could jointly moderate the relation (and direction) between job insecurity and job satisfaction. The work illustrates how positive traits (such as optimism) and psychological factors (such as P-S deep-level similarity) could affect employee job satisfaction with different levels of job insecurity.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically assess the combined impact of the ethical environment, organizational trust and workplace optimism on individual performance.

A structural model is theorized and data from 250 individuals working for private organizations were analyzed using partial-least-squares structural equation modeling.

Both the ethical environment and organizational trust positively impact workplace optimism. Of the ethical environment, organizational trust and workplace optimism, only workplace optimism directly impacts individual performance. The impact of the ethical environment and organizational trust on individual performance is indirect through workplace optimism.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study to assess the combined impact of the ethical environment, organizational trust and workplace optimism on individual performance. It is important to conduct similar studies to verify these findings.

An ethical environment and organizational trust foster high levels of workplace optimism that in turn lead to improved employee performance.

The important role that workplace optimism plays within the ethical climate of organizations is theorized and assessed. This is the first empirical assessment of the mediational role of workplace optimism on the established relationships between ethical environment and individual performance, and organizational trust and individual performance.

This study investigates when and why negative organization-related career shocks affect career optimism, which is a positive career-planning attitude. The indirect effect of negative organization-related career shocks on career optimism via job insecurity and the role of perceived organizational career support as a first-stage moderator were investigated.

Three-wave time-lagged data from a sample of 728 employees in Switzerland was used. Time-lagged correlations, an indirect effect model and a conditional indirect effect model with bootstrapping were used to test the hypotheses.

First, this study showed a significant negative correlation between negative organization-related career shocks (T1) and career optimism (T3), a positive correlation between negative organization-related career shocks (T1) and job insecurity (T2) and a negative correlation between job insecurity (T2) and career optimism (T3). Second, findings revealed that negative organization-related career shocks (T1) have a negative indirect effect on career optimism (T3) via job insecurity (T2). Third, perceived organizational career support (T1) buffers the indirect effect of negative organization-related career shocks (T1) on career optimism (T3).

This study provides an initial examination of the relationship between negative organization-related career shocks and career optimism by applying assumptions from the JD-R model and Conservation of Resources theory. Implications about how to deal with negative career shocks in HRM and career counseling are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the roles of four distinct but related aspects of psychological capital – optimism, hope, self-efficacy and resilience – in facilitating employee creativity. Drawing on the psychological capital perspective and the creativity literature, we propose that optimism and hope increase employee self-efficacy and resilience, which benefits employee creativity. Moreover, the authors hypothesize that self-efficacy and resilience have mediating roles in the psychological capital context, which, in turn, has a positive effect on individual employees’ creativity.

Data were obtained from a survey of multiple manufacturing firms on individual employee psychological capital and creativity. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses regarding psychological capital and creativity in a sample of 468 individual employees.

The results provide evidence that only resilience plays a mediating role between optimism and hope and employee creativity. The authors found that psychological capital is positively related to employee creativity.

These findings provide guidance for understanding how to better address the psychological capital that contributes to employee creativity in the workplace. Specifically, this study provides a rationale for facilitating the development of employee creativity by exposing the effect and path of psychological capital.

This study is the first to examine the antecedents and mediating role of four distinct yet correlated dimensions of psychological capital on employee creativity. The findings of this study contribute to the theoretical development of a conceptual model that investigates the black box of the four aspects of psychological capital and creativity.

The purpose of this paper is to study if the employees’ optimism-pessimism ratio predicts their creativity.

In total, 134 employees reported their optimism and pessimism, and the respective supervisors described the employees’ creativity.

The relationship between the optimism-pessimism ratio and creativity is curvilinear (inverted U-shaped); beyond a certain level of the optimism-pessimism ratio, the positive relationship between the ratio and creativity weakens, suggesting that the possible positive effects of (high) optimism may be weakened by a very low level of pessimism.

Being cross-sectional, the study examines neither the causal links between the optimism-pessimism ratio and creativity nor other plausible causal links. The study was carried out at a single moment and did not capture the dynamics that occur over the course of time involving changes in optimism/pessimism and creativity. Future studies may adopt longitudinal or quasi-experimental designs.

Managers and organizations must consider that, even though positivity promotes creativity, some level of negativity may help positivity to produce creativity.

This study suggests that scholars who want to study the antecedents of creativity (and innovation) must be cautious in focusing only on the positive or the negative sides of individuals’ characteristics, and rather they must explore the interplay between both poles. Individuals may experience both positive and negative states/traits (Smith et al., 2016), and this both/and approach may impel them to think divergently, to challenge the status quo and to propose “out the box” and useful ideas.

The purpose of this paper was to validate the short version of personal optimism and self-efficacy optimism scale developed by Gavrilov-Jerkovic et al. (2014) on a sample of 398 employees working in private and public sector organizations in India.

The study needs to test the psychometric properties of the Indian version of scale by using exploratory factor analysis, convergent validity, discriminant validity and confirmatory factor analysis.

The results supported for the two-dimensional factor-structure of optimism in consonance with Gavrilov-Jerkovic et al. (2014).

The findings will benefit both the management and the employees. Also, the study expands the existing literature on the variable in the Indian context.

The work validates and provides a unique instrument to measure the employee optimism that can help the management and the employees to focus on themselves to increase the positivity to provide an innovative and creative environment. Also, the work supplements the existing literature on positive attitude or outcome expectancies and helps in establishing the bi-dimensional nature of the construct of optimism.

An organizational optimism model is developed and tested. The constructs of optimism subculture and goal setting process are investigated as antecedents to the level of employee optimism and individual and organizational performance are investigated as direct and indirect consequences of the level of employee optimism. Data relating to the constructs were collected from 133 manufacturers and subjected to structural equation modeling analysis. The proposed model fits the data well. Results indicate that managers may improve individual and organizational performance by raising levels of employee optimism and that levels of optimism may be raised through development of an optimism subculture and implementation of a goal setting process.

This paper aims to investigate mediating effects of employees’ work engagement in the relationships between their personal resources (i.e. self-efficacy, organizational-based self-esteem and optimism) and turnover intention within Korean organizations.

A total of 571 survey responses collected from Korean organizations were utilized and analyzed to test the proposed research hypotheses by using structural equation modeling.

The results showed that all of personal resources had a positive impact on work engagement and work engagement had a negative impact on turnover intention. The results also revealed that although both organizational-based self-esteem and optimism had a negative impact on turnover intention, self-efficacy had an impact on turnover intention with the opposite way. In addition, work engagement mediated the relationships among self-efficacy, organizational-based self-esteem, optimism and turnover intention.

The findings of the study could suggest practical implications when human resource development (HRD) professionals consider appropriate human resource interventions (e.g. training intervention) as to how to create and maintain a working environment where employees are facilitated and learned to have high levels of personal resources (i.e. self-efficacy, organizational-based self-esteem and optimism), which leads to enhancing employees’ work engagement and positive outcomes (e.g. lower turnover intention).

Given that little research effort has been made to investigate the relationships among personal resources (i.e. self-efficacy, organizational-based self-esteem and optimism), work engagement and turnover intention, this research contributes to the HRD literature by adding empirical evidence of the relationships in the context of Korean organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to test the cognitive construct of optimism (positive future outcome expectancies) and the age-gender differences in Indian sample.

The sample consists of 363 older, middle-aged and younger male and female employees. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey based research design.

Results revealed that middle-aged employees have high levels of optimism as compared to the old age and younger employees. Further, the males reflected high optimism levels in comparison to female employees in middle and old aged adult employees, whereas females have higher optimism level in younger age in Indian select organisations.

The study suggests that the continuous changes in the lifespan lead to changes in one’s attitude and hence results in behavioural changes. The research indicates that optimism should be cultivated in the individuals by providing training and development to promote the competence and skill-building events which would help in enhancing the productivity resulting in better understanding of the scenario at workplace.

The work supplements the existing literature on positive attitude or outcome expectancies by adding to the lifespan development theory.