Editorial - Partial Least Squares: The Better Approach to Structural Equation Modeling?

Abstract

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 problems in studies (e.g., Hulland, 1999), its usefulness is still not well established amongst many management and strategy researchers. Against this background, this Long Range Planning special issue on PLS-SEM in strategic management research and practice seeks to provide a forum for topical issues that demonstrate its usefulness in this field. Descriptions of the method, its empirical applications, and methodological advancements that increase its usefulness in research and practice are specifically emphasized. As such, the special issue aims at two audiences: academics involved in the fields of strategy and management, and practitioners such as consultants. Accordingly, theoretical, methodological, and empirical manuscripts with strong implications for strategic research and practice are included in this special issue.

Keywords: partial least squares, PLS, structural equation modeling, SEM, path modeling, strategic management

JEL Classification: A00