When life gives you lemons make lemonade: cross-sectional age and gender differences in optimism

Purpose 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. Design/methodology/approach The sample consists of 363 older, middle-aged and younger male and female employees. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey based research design. Findings 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. Research limitations/implications 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. Originality/value The work supplements the existing literature on positive attitude or outcome expectancies by adding to the lifespan development theory.