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This paper seeks to develop a model for the assignment of employees to workplaces. Assignment methods are of high relevance in practice because employees should be assigned to workplaces according to their competences and preferences to ensure that motivated employees carry out tasks effectively and efficiently.

Two goal programming models are introduced with inputs and valuations using the analytic hierarchy process.

The two goal programming models for the assignment of employees to workplaces, which take into account both employee competences and preferences as well as workplace competence requirements and attributes, seem to be effective in helping to arrive at an optimal assignment decision.

In practice, one major problem is that the input data for the goal programming models are not updated regularly. Thus, the documentation of the competence profiles and the preferences of the employees might be out of date or incomplete.

The development of the two goal programming models which could be applied immediately in practical competence management is what makes the work valuable and addresses a gap in the modelling of personnel assignment methodologies.

The paper seeks to show pitfalls in the application of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to efficiency analysis and performance measurement as well as ways to steer clear of these pitfalls.

The paper outlines guidelines for avoiding pitfalls in the application of the AHP to efficiency analysis and performance measurement.

The pitfalls discussed in the paper can be understood as a type of critical reflection of best practice, since they stem from the experiences of the application of the AHP in the area of efficiency analysis and performance measurement.

The pitfalls discussed are based on a limited number of projects covering only a few industries. Further work may be required to test the general validity of these findings.

The ways to steer clear of these pitfalls can guide a decision maker to a proper application of the AHP in the area of efficiency analysis and performance measurement.

The paper goes beyond the multi criteria decision‐making literature where only general criticism of the AHP is found and the area of efficiency analysis and performance measurement is neglected.

Research on effort-reward “imbalance” (ERI) has gained popularity in the occupational health literature, and authors typically use effort-reward ratios (ERRs) to study this phenomenon. This article provides a methodological and theoretical critique of this literature and suggestions on how future research can better study joint effects of efforts and reward.

The authors conducted a simulation study, analyzed panel data and surveyed the literature on the theoretical and methodological basis of the “imbalance” concept.

The simulation study indicates that under many conditions the ERR captures main effects of effort and reward and that effects also depend on the scaling of the variables. The panel data showed that when main effects and the interactions of effort and reward are entered simultaneously in a regression predicting mental and physical health, the significant effect of the ERRs disappears. The literature review reveals that psychological theories include more elaborate theoretical ideas on joint effects of effort and reward.

The results suggest that moderated multiple regression analyses are better suited to detect a misfit between effort and reward than ERRs. The authors also suggest to use the term effort-reward fit in future research.

Methodologically and conceptually the authors showed that the ERR is not an appropriate approach because it confuses main effects with interaction effects. Furthermore, the concept of ERI is better substituted by a broader conceptualization of effort-reward fit that can be integrated with the existing literature on person-environment fit. Recommendations for future research are provided.

The purpose of this paper is to review the applications of the chemical reactor network (CRN) approach for modeling the combustion in gas turbine combustors and classify the CRN construction methods that have been frequently used by researchers.

This paper initiates with introducing the CRN approach as a practical tool for precisely predicting the species concentrations in the combustion process with lower computational costs. The structure of the CRN and its elements as the ideal reactors are reviewed in recent studies. Flow field modeling has been identified as the most important input for constructing the CRNs; thus, the flow field modeling methods have been extensively reviewed in previous studies. Network approach, component modeling approach and computational fluid dynamics (CFD), as the main flow field modeling methods, are investigated with a focus on the CRN applications. Then, the CRN construction approaches are reviewed and categorized based on extracting the flow field required data. Finally, the most used kinetics and CRN solvers are reviewed and reported in this paper.

It is concluded that the CRN approach can be a useful tool in the entire process of combustion chamber design. One-dimensional and quasi-dimensional methods of flow field modeling are used in the construction of the simple CRNs without detailed geometry data. This approach requires fewer requirements and is used in the initial combustor designing process. In recent years, using the CFD approach in the construction of CRNs has been increased. The flow field results of the CFD codes processed to create the homogeneous regions based on construction criteria. Over the past years, several practical algorithms have been proposed to automatically extract reactor networks from CFD results. These algorithms have been developed to identify homogeneous regions with a high resolution based on the splitting criteria.

This paper reviews the various flow modeling methods used in the construction of the CRNs, along with an overview of the studies carried out in this field. Also, the usual approaches for creating a CRN and the most significant achievements in this field are addressed in detail.

Qualitative and recent quantitative research indicates that market orientation exerts a positive effect on the performance of new entrepreneurial firms. However, the question whether in this context organizational culture, which has been identified as an important antecedent of market‐oriented behavior in established firms, also that shows a significant influence on the level of market orientation has so far been neglected. Using a sample of 143 new entrepreneurial firms, the present analysis shows empirically that market‐oriented behavior is in fact rooted in this type of culture. Thereby, organizational culture does exert an indirect influence on the performance of new entrepreneurial firms.

In recent years, a wide range of psychosocial health interventions have been implemented among military service members and their families. However, there are questions over the evaluative rigor of these interventions. We conducted a systematic review of this literature, rating each relevant study (k = 111) on five evaluative rigor scales (type of control group, approach to participant assignment, outcome quality, number of measurement time points, and follow-up distality). The most frequently coded values on three of the five scales (control group type, participant assignment, and follow-up distality) were those indicating the lowest level of operationally defined rigor. Logistic regression results indicate that the evaluative rigor of intervention studies has largely remained consistent over time, with exceptions indicating that rigor has decreased. Analyses among seven military sub-populations indicate that interventions conducted among soldiers completing basic training, soldiers returning from combat deployment, and combat veterans have had, on average, the greatest evaluative rigor. However, variability in mean scores across evaluative rigor scales within sub-populations highlights the unique methodological hurdles common to different military settings. Recommendations for better standardizing the intervention evaluation process are discussed.

UP to the present the knowledge of these archives is most unsatisfactory. There is only one complete catalogue, which apparently was begun by Dr. L. Vella during the first half of the nineteenth century, and completed in 1890 by Doctors Camilleri and Briffa. This catalogue is a manuscript volume written in the Italian language, and has never been published in its entirety. A copy exists, however, also in manuscript, at the headquarters of the Sovereign Military Order of St. John in Rome.

Research disputes whether family businesses are more or less innovative than their nonfamily counterparts. So far, no consistent results have been achieved. The recently introduced willingness and ability framework suggest that idiosyncratic behavior is only to be expected if both sufficiency conditions – willingness and ability – are fulfilled. The purpose of this paper is to test this hypothesis empirically.

A large cross-sectional sample of German small- and medium-sized enterprises is used. The sample offers – alongside numerous moderators commonly used in innovation research – several family firm definitions. Given the censored nature of the endogenous variable chosen, a Tobit model is used.

Drawing upon agency theory and the ability and willingness paradox in family firm innovation, it finds family firms to be less innovative only if both willingness and ability conditions are fulfilled.

To the best of the knowledge, the study provides the first attempt to test the willingness and ability theorem. Therefore, the commonly used family firm-specific measures (self-assessment-, ownership-, and management criterion) are operationalized to better understand what drives innovativeness in family firms. The findings thus add to the ongoing discussion on what really drives family impact on firm-level decisions.

The aim of this paper is to examine the effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on corporate identity, image and firm performance in a multi‐industry setting, in order to support evidence that the effects of CSR differ in different industry settings.

The study, based on pre‐existing CSR scales, was tested using data collected from a sample of 389 European companies. Hypotheses are based on the examination of the moderating effects of CSR using a group comparison method.

Contingency models show that CSR triggers the corporate‐image‐building process and that its relationship to company success varies significantly based on company size, industry and marketing budget.

This research was conducted within a specific region in the EU and as such these findings may or may not be generalized to other regions like Asia or the USA. In addition, the secondary data of the study did not include stakeholders other than customers and suppliers, suggesting that further analysis of the model should be made using data from additional stakeholders.

Previous research has shown mixed results from companies' efforts in the field of CSR. This paper triggers practitioners' discussion about the ability to pursue CSR, depending on their size, industry, and marketing budget, and helps them to set the right focus for their CSR efforts.

The study enriches the body of empirical research on CSR and provides support for research investigating under which conditions CSR is most effective. It is the first to analyze samples from different industries in this context.