Structural equation modeling (SEM) has become a quasi-standard in marketing and management research when it comes to analyzing the cause-effect relations between latent constructs. For most researchers, SEM is equivalent to carrying out covariance-based SEM (CB-SEM). While marketing researchers...

Rigdon’s (2012) thoughtful article argues that PLS-SEM should free itself from CB-SEM. It should renounce all mechanisms, frameworks, and jargon associated with factor models entirely. In this comment, we shed further light on two subject areas on which Rigdon (2012) touches in his discussion...

This article introduces and motivates an exchange of thoughts on the paper by Edward E. Rigdon in the first of two Long Range Planning special issues on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in strategic management published in 2012 and 2013. For 30 years, there has been a...

This article addresses Rönkkö and Evermann’s criticisms of the partial least squares (PLS) approach to structural equation modeling. We contend that the alleged shortcomings of PLS are not due to problems with the technique, but instead to three problems with Rönkkö and Evermann’s study:...

This second Long Range Planning special issue on PLS-SEMin strategic management research and practice seeks to further progress towards this goal. The journal received 41 articles for its special issue on PLS-SEM, twelve of which completed a thorough review process successfully. Based on the...

The articles included in this special issue address PLS-SEM path modeling's strengths and limitations. In our introductory article, we provide an overview of the PLS-SEM path modeling approach directed at colleagues unfamiliar with the approach and who need to understand when PLS-SEM is the most...

Researchers and practitioners appreciate the various advantageous features that PLS-SEM, as a component-based approach to SEM, offers in practical applications. Although strategic management research relatively early on recognized PLS-SEM's flexibility regarding handling various modeling...