John Noble speculated that Howie really didn't know much about his employees, including the types of rewards that they found meaningful and whether they personally felt that if they worked hard, they could achieve a reward.

Noble's thoughts referred to:

A. Reinforcement Theory.

B. Equity Theory.

C. Expectancy Theory.

D. Theory J.

C. Expectancy Theory

Explanation: The expectancy theory explains that, behavior or attitude exhibited by an individual usually stems from the association between the exhibited behavior and reward attached to such behavior, prompting such individual to selectively choose a behavior which maximizes reward for performance or output or one which minimizes pain.

According to the context above, Noble's claim that Howie knows very little about his employees including the fact that he doesn't know the kind of reward which could enhance their performance means that Howie has no knowledge about the expectancy theory associated with his employees behavior.