Search results

Many important constructs of business and social sciences are conceptualized as composites of common factors, i.e. as second-order constructs composed of reflectively measured first-order constructs. Current approaches to model this type of second-order construct provide inconsistent estimates and lack a model test that helps assess the existence and/or usefulness of a second-order construct. The purpose of this paper is to present a novel three-stage approach to model, estimate, and test second-order constructs composed of reflectively measured first-order constructs.

The authors compare the efficacy of the proposed three-stage approach with that of the dominant extant approaches, i.e. the repeated indicator approach, the two-stage approach, and the hybrid approach by means of simulated data whose underlying population model is known. Moreover, the authors apply the three-stage approach to a real research setting in business research.

The study based on simulated data illustrates that the three-stage approach is Fisher-consistent, whereas the dominant extant approaches are not. The study based on real data shows that the three-stage approach is meaningfully applicable in typical research settings of business research. Its results can differ substantially from those of the extant approaches.

Analysts aiming at modeling composites of common factors should apply the proposed procedure in order to test the existence and/or usefulness of a second-order construct and to obtain consistent estimates.

The three-stage approach is the only consistent approach for modeling, estimating, and testing composite second-order constructs made up of reflectively measured first-order constructs.

The purpose of this study is threefold: (1) to propose partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) as a way to estimate models containing composites of composites and to compare the performance of the PLS-PM approaches in this context, (2) to provide and evaluate two testing procedures to assess the overall fit of such models and (3) to introduce user-friendly step-by-step guidelines.

A simulation is conducted to examine the PLS-PM approaches and the performance of the two proposed testing procedures.

The simulation results show that the two-stage approach, its combination with the repeated indicators approach and the extended repeated indicators approach perform similarly. However, only the former is Fisher consistent. Moreover, the simulation shows that guidelines neglecting model fit assessment miss an important opportunity to detect misspecified models. Finally, the results show that both testing procedures based on the two-stage approach allow for assessment of the model fit.

Analysts who estimate and assess models containing composites of composites should use the authors’ guidelines, since the majority of existing guidelines neglect model fit assessment and thus omit a crucial step of structural equation modeling.

This study contributes to the understanding of the discussed approaches. Moreover, it highlights the importance of overall model fit assessment and provides insights about testing the fit of models containing composites of composites. Based on these findings, step-by-step guidelines are introduced to estimate and assess models containing composites of composites.

The purpose of this paper is to bridge together seemingly disparate yet interconnected paradigmatic antecedents of e-tailing and servicescape, i.e., product assortment, order fulfillment, shopping assistance and its consequences for shopping efficiency.

The proposed conceptual model is well grounded in the extensive literature from e-tailing as well as retailing domain and to assess the plausibility of the model. Total 246 female online apparel shoppers were surveyed from an Indian university and the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling through SmartPLS.

The outcomes of the study indicate that the e-customer may derive a substantial share of shopping assistance and service interface through product assortment offered by e-tailing sites. Customer-perceived performance of this e-shopping process – a crucial element of e-tail servicescape – directly affects the shopping assistance, along with order fulfillment capability of retail scope.

The study used a sample of graduate students at a north-west university in India, which limits the generalizability of the research to other consumer groups. The paper links a significant body of literature within a conceptually developed framework and identifies key research areas in the e-tailing realm.

By better understanding the role of product assortment as a value-added feature in online value co-creation process, the e-tail managers can leverage the proposed integrated capability to improve e-tailing performance and customer outcomes in the form of business.

With rapid advancements in internet-led communication, we are witnessing the dawn of a new era of e-tail innovations around us which is expected to change the way people experience shopping.

This research is an attempt to enrich the level of understanding about online shopping environment in light of relationships among virtual and physical facets of e-tail, i.e., product assortment, order fulfillment, shopping assistance and shopping efficiency. The authors investigate customer-perceived product assortment performance in e-tailing and its significances on shopping outcomes.

The study challenges the assumption of independence among Technological, Organizational and Environmental (TOE) factors and investigates the influence of TOE factors on Big Data Analytics (BDA) adoption among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Top management support was proposed as a mediator between technological and organizational factors and BDA adoption. Furthermore, the moderating effect of environmental factors on the association between relative advantage, compatibility, competitiveness, organizational readiness and BDA adoption was evaluated.

Data were collected from 171 SME manufacturing firms and analyzed using the partial least squares technique.

The findings confirmed the interrelationships among the TOE factors. The effects of compatibility, competitiveness and organizational readiness on BDA adoption were mediated by top management support. Furthermore, environmental factors moderate the influences of compatibility and organizational readiness on top management support.

The findings contribute to the TOE model by challenging the assumption of independence among TOE factors, and future studies should use this model with more caution and consider the potential relationships between TOE factors.

This paper analyzes whether the Triple-A supply chain (SC)–competitive advantage (CA) relationship is influenced by the country context and considers the case of emerging vs developed countries. Any differences in the importance of the three Triple-A SC dimensions (agility, adaptability and alignment) and a potential synergy effect among them when pursuing CA are also analyzed.

Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method is applied to an international multiple informant sample of 304 manufacturing plants in nine developed and five emerging countries.

A significant positive relationship is found between the Triple-A SC and CA in the full sample and in the two separate samples of emerging and developed countries, which is more intense in the emerging countries. For the same samples, it is also concluded that (1) there are no significant differences in the importance of SC adaptability (SC-Ad), SC agility (SC-Ag) and SC alignment (SC-Al) as levers in the Triple-A SC–CA relationship and (2) a synergy effect among the Triple-A SC dimensions when pursuing CA is not supported.

The present study brings new evidence to the previous research on Triple-A SC and its relationship with CA in different country contexts. For managers, this work (1) shows that Triple A should be considered in the design of global SCs irrespective of the country context and (2) offers a first approach for determining the Triple-A SC levers that must be taken into consideration when pursuing a CA.

This paper contributes to Triple-A SC theory development. It is the first research study that analyzes the effect of the country context on the Triple-A SC–CA relationship and the importance of each of the Triple-A SC dimensions and their possible synergy effect when pursuing CA using a multiinformant international sample taken from different country contexts.

This study examines opinion leadership's personal and social characteristics to see which one is more effective in opinion leadership in four different industries: fashion, travel and tourism, wellness and book and literature. The specific subject of this investigation is how largely openness, exhibitionism and competence in interpersonal relationships and status and attitude homophily affect the opinion leadership and the decision-making of opinion leaders' followers.

The proposed model was tested with the questionnaire shared via stories featured on Instagram among followers of four micro-influencers in different industries. For the purpose of testing the offered hypotheses of this study, the partial least squares method was used.

The findings show that openness, exhibitionism and competence in interpersonal relationships have a substantial effect on opinion leadership. It was also evident that status and attitude homophily impact opinion leadership. The model supports the effect of both personal and social characteristics on opinion leadership; however, based on the results, the effect of personal characteristics on opinion leadership is more remarkable, both in a direct relationship and through the mediating role of para-social interaction.

This study is novel in categorizing opinion leaders' attributes in two different extents of personal and social characteristics. The authors defined a model of the effectiveness of each personal and social characteristic on opinion leaders. The model investigates whether the personal or social characteristics have the most effect on opinion leadership, particularly with the mediating role of para-social interaction.