<p>Employee engagement has often been studied as a consequence of employees’ perceptions of past experience with their organizations. Drawing upon hope theory, this study portrays employees as forward-thinking agents and examines how employees’ organization-specific outcome expectations relate to their engagement via the mediating role of duty orientation. The moderating role of perceived uncertainty in the aforementioned mediating relationship was also tested. A path analysis using 231 valid responses to an online questionnaire from workers in the U.S. service sector was employed to test the proposed moderated mediation model. The results reveal that the three dimensions of organization-specific outcome expectations (material, social, and self-evaluation outcomes) are indirectly associated with emotional and behavioral engagement through different facets of duty orientation (duty to members, mission, and codes). Perceived uncertainty modestly attenuates the positive association between material outcome expectations and duty to codes, suggesting that employees may rely less on normative compliance to pursue material benefits under uncertain conditions. This research addresses a timely organizational challenge related to low employee engagement and recognizes that employees’ prospective outlook may shape their attitudes and behaviors. It offers a bounded extension of hope theory into the moral domain by identifying duty orientation as a value-laden pathway linking positive outcome expectations with engagement. It also advances duty orientation research by situating the construct within prospective motivational processes rather than retrospective influences. Finally, it offers practical insights on strengthening employee engagement under uncertainty by fostering positive expectations, reinforcing moral commitment, and reducing uncertainty through transparent communication.</p>