Optimism and Employee Performance in the Banking Industry

Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, Jul 2007 by Jensen, Susan M, Luthans, Kyle W, Lebsack, Sandra A, Lebsack, Richard R

As opposed to Scheirer and Carver (1985) who view optimism as a positive future expectancy, the well-known "learned optimism" of Seligman (1998) views it in terms of explanatory style with roots in attribution theory. According to Seligman, for bad events optimists make external (not their fault), unstable (temporary setback), and specific (a problem only in this context) attributions. Conversely, pessimists interpret bad events in terms of internal (their own fault), stable (will last a long time), and global (will undermine everything they do) attributions. Based upon this attributional framework, optimists take credit for positive occurrences in their lives. They view the causes of these positive outcomes as being within their power and control. Optimists would expect these causes to continue into the future (i.e., complementary to the Scheirer and Carver perspective of future expectancy) and to apply to other aspects of their life. When faced with a negative situation, because optimists attribute the causes to be external, temporary, and specific to the situation, they continue to remain positive about future events.

A pessimist would tend to adapt an opposite explanatory style. Typically, they would not give themselves credit for the positive situations that occur in their lives. In addition, the attributional causes that pessimists utilize tend to be temporary and situation-specific. They believe that positive events hold little chance of happening again in the future. Finally, pessimists tend to internalize the negative aspects of their lives. They assume that bad things will continue to happen into the future and threaten their long-term success at work and other parts of their life. Seligman (1998) and Peterson (2006) have also emphasized that optimism can be developed (i.e., "state-like") and have documented the positive impact it can have in a variety of life domains including the workplace.

Seligman (1998) and others (e.g., Peterson, 2000, 2006) have also described the importance of "flexible optimism," which is the ability to use both optimistic and pessimistic explanatory styles and the adaptive capacity that allows for the use of alternative explanatory styles depending on the situation. In other words, "flexible optimism" faces reality with a positive outlook without dwelling unduly on the negatives. Similarly, Seligman (1998) and others (e.g., Schneider, 2001) have also highlighted the importance of "realistic optimism," which does not take an extreme in internalizing good events and externalizing negative ones. Importantly, this approach has recognized the importance of understanding that there can be a downside to too much and/or false optimism. Schneider (2001) has outlined three forms of "realistic optimism" which include the following:

1. Leniency for the past, or the benefit of the doubt principle (accepting what cannot now be changed, not second guessing yourself, and preventing the debilitating effects of perfectionism);

2. Appreciation for the present, or the "appreciate the moment" principle (staying alert to the positive aspects of the current situation); and