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This paper examines the criterion weights of the EFQM excellence model. More and more research indicates that the official criterion weights from EFQM do not correspond with the way companies are working. This, of course, raises the question whether or not it makes any sense to compare companies according to an arbitrary weight structure, which has never been empirically tested? In this paper the criterion weights are estimated through the use of a factor scores regression based on confirmatory factor analysis of a number of bootstrapped samples. This estimation procedure is applied on data collected among Danish companies which responded to a self‐assessment questionnaire covering the EFQM excellence model in each of the years 1998‐2001. The overall conclusions are that the allocation of weights is fairly stable for most of the criteria except for one. The weight allocated to “People results” is significantly lower in 2001 than in 1999 and 1998.

The interpretation of the importance/performance map is based on an assumption of independence between importance and performance but many studies question the validity of this assumption. The aim of this research is to develop a new typology for job satisfaction attributes as well as a new importance/performance map that can be an aid for organizations when they prioritize their improvement actions based on a job satisfaction study.

A typology for possible relationships between importance and performance in job satisfaction studies is developed based on theoretical considerations. This typology is then applied and validated on approximately 10,000 responses from the European Employee Index 2002. Ultimately a new importance/performance map for priority setting in job satisfaction studies is developed based on the new typology for possible relationships between importance and performance.

The result of this analysis showed that the assumption of independence between the importance and performance is invalid in certain situations.

The subsets in the analysis are not all independent since a respondent may appear in more than one subset. This is a problem with the data generating process that to some extent might influence the analysis.

Profound impact on the way that the importance/performance map should be interpreted since non‐proportional attributes will move both vertically as well as horizontally in the traditional importance/performance map as performance changes.

This paper gives a theoretical explanation for the presence of non‐proportional satisfiers and develops a new importance/performance map that takes the presence of non‐proportional satisfiers into account.

This paper examines the weight structure of the EFQM excellence model. This is done through a survey among 756 chief executive officers from Danish companies who responded to a self‐assessment questionnaire. The data from this survey have been analysed through factor score regression based on confirmatory factor analysis on 5,000 bootstrapped samples. The analysis shows that the perceived criterion weights vary from the current allocation in the EFQM excellence model. This deviation is so substantial that the allocation of weights between the enabler and the result block vary considerably from the actual allocation in the EFQM excellence model. Furthermore, it seems as if Danish companies perceive the enabler criteria as equally important but this is not the case for the result criteria.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the drivers of absenteeism and gives information of the relationship between absenteeism and personal and organizational characteristics in the Nordic countries.

The theoretical assumptions are tested empirically on data from a survey carried out in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. 10.748 employees from randomly selected households participated. Differences were examined using analysis of variance.

Among the findings are that Danish employees are less absent than employees in Norway, Finland and Sweden. Employees working in the public sector, more specific the municipalities, have a higher level of absence compared to the private sector. According to the personal characteristics, women are more absent than men in all Nordic countries, but the effect of age differs according to the country in question. If the manager however is a woman and the employee likewise, then the level of absence is higher in Denmark, Norway and Finland compared to the other gender constellations.

Because of the lack of international comparative studies of absenteeism in the Nordic countries, this paper brings new and a deeper understanding of the area as a basis of further empirical research and/or management concern.

This paper analyses the differences between private and public sector organisations in Denmark in relation to the penetration of holistic management models, how companies achieve excellent results and the empirical weight structure of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) excellence model. The results show that the penetration of holistic management models is greater among public organisations. Furthermore private and public organisations do not achieve excellent results in the same way. Private companies put higher emphasis on the systems dimension whereas public organisations put higher emphasis on the people dimension. In relation to the empirical weight structure of the EFQM excellence model two significant differences were found. Private companies put higher emphasis on the criteria “leadership” and “policy and strategy” than public organisations.

This paper studies differences in job satisfaction and intrinsic work motivation between employees with different characteristics. Based on a study of the literature assumptions regarding these differences are developed and tested on data from a survey in the Nordic countries. In this survey 9,623 employees from randomly selected households in the Nordic countries participated. Among the findings are that Danish workers were found to be the most satisfied and that there is no difference between the genders with respect to job satisfaction in the Nordic countries.

Based on a review of the literature within the field of job satisfaction and organizational commitment this paper proposes a generic model for measuring employee perceptions. The model consists of seven latent constructs operationalised through 29 manifest indicators. This model is subsequently tested on data from a questionnaire survey to which approximately 9,600 employees from the Nordic countries responded. The statistical technique applied for this analysis is partial least squares (PLS), which is well suited for structural equation modelling when the focus is on prediction. The results support the structure of the suggested generic model but reveals differences between the Nordic countries with regard to strength of the relationships as well as the average case value of the seven latent constructs.

The purpose of this paper is to provide strategic recommendations for Indian hotel administrators for improving sustainability practices: environment, economic and social with respect to the supply chain members by analyzing performance dimensions and the importance attached to them.

Importance performance analysis is a tool to analyze the perception of top-level, middle-level and first-level managers in hotels. Questionnaire is developed to collect the hotel manager’s perceptions. The snowball sampling method is used for data collection.

The paper introduces specific sustainability practices, namely, environment, economic and social factors, at the interface of the tourism supply chain (TSC). This will allow the hotels to identify the importance and performance of various sustainability practices to achieve a long-term competitive advantage. The present work finds that the responding hotel managers have given highest importance to the sustainability practices within the organization and the hotel manager’s perception of sustainability practices in the TSC will vary with respect to the supply chain members.

The effort has been made to capture specific sustainability practices across the supply chain. The paper reinstates the fact that sustainability practices are not firm specific and should be practiced at the supply chain interface. The data for the study were taken from focal organizations perspective which is the hotels.

Results provide the hotel administrators to develop appropriate strategies to improve their practices and functions by analyzing their strengths and weakness regarding their tangible and intangible assets. The identified sustainability practice attributes can act as a benchmark and drive the hotel industry toward possible cost-saving conditions by prioritizing the allocation of the resources while taking care of overall performance.

Results will help the hotel administrators to identify the better sustainability practices which will reduce the negative effects and protect the Mother Nature.

The study included hotels/resorts from tourism locations: hill station, backwaters and coastal areas, specifically in the Indian context.

This paper aims to address the nature of sustainable enterprise excellence, what it is, its enablers and specific manifestations.

A sweeping model of sustainable enterprise excellence, resilience and robustness is introduced, along with its enablers. Among enablers, supply-chain proficiency, vertical trust, distributed leadership and neuropsychological measurement are cited. A method of strategy modeling is introduced that, if rigorously pursued, will improve enterprise strategy and, hence, also opportunity for better subsequent performance and impacts. Similarly, an approach for strategic alignment in a large, multi-level enterprise is presented.

There are many paths toward sustainable enterprise excellence. Regardless of the path, this anticipates enterprise pursuit of socially equitable, environmentally responsible and economically sound performance and impacts.

The present is the Anthropocene age, an era fraught with challenges largely of people's own making and related to climate change and various sorts of social strain. Organizations have the wherewithal to attack these challenges. Given the orientation of sustainable enterprise excellence, methods and models that advance sustainable enterprise excellence have the potential to combat these challenges.

Sustainable enterprise excellence provides models and methods for confronting significant challenges that societies and organizations alike are faced with. Various models and paths to sustainable enterprise excellence are suggested in this paper.