What do expectations change? Optimistic expectations, job crafting, job satisfaction and a new theoretical model

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of optimistic expectations on job satisfaction at work and whether job crafting behaviour plays a mediating role in this effect. At the same time, this model presents the need for “expectation management” in the context of work psychology to the attention of all academics and practitioners. Design/methodology/approach To test the hypotheses of the study, data were obtained from 475 health-care workers in a public hospital. Hypotheses were tested using Process Macro Model of Hayes (2018). Findings The result of the analyses determined that the optimistic expectations for the organization as a whole have a positive effect on job satisfaction, both directly and indirectly, and that job crafting behaviour has a partial mediating role in this effect. Research limitations/implications The first limitation is that the data were obtained only by a cross-sectional method. The second is that among the various workplace behaviours and workplace psychologies job crafting and job satisfaction were examined in the study. The partial mediation effect between the research variables reveals the existence of many other variables and constitutes the third limitation. The fourth is that only optimistic expectations effects on positive behaviours and positive psychological states were evaluated in this study. Finally, a fifth limitation of this study is that the sample is limited to those working in the health sector and public hospitals. Practical implications First, the data were obtained only by a cross-sectional method, and the longitudinal method was not implemented in how the study was designed. Second, among the workplace behaviours, only job crafting behaviour and only job satisfaction as a workplace psychology were analysed. Third, partial mediation effect was found to be among the other variables might indicate the role of additional variables that could be uncovered by further research. Fourth, only optimistic expectations and their effects on positive behaviours and positive psychological states at the workplace were evaluated. Fifth, the sample is limited to those working in the health sector and public hospitals. Social implications This study draws attention to “Expectation Management” as a management activity worth exploring and its potential in terms of social and working relations. Originality/value This study provides versatile answers to the question of why individuals perform differently despite working under the same conditions. The model suggested in the study takes the conventional way of thinking in the literature one step further by offering an alternative answer to this critical question, whose answers we have been discovering step by step since the Hawthorne studies. In addition, the proposed model draws attention to the need for “expectation management” in the context of business psychology in theory and practice.