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Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) has become an established social sciences multivariate analysis technique. Since quality management researchers also increasingly using PLS-SEM, this growing interest calls for guidance.

Based on established guidelines for applying PLS-SEM and evaluating the results, this research reviews 107 articles applying the method and published in eight leading quality management journals.

The use of PLS-SEM in quality management often only draws on limited information and analysis results. The discipline would benefit from the method's more comprehensive use by following established guidelines. Specifically, the use of predictive model assessment and more advanced PLS-SEM analyses harbors the potential to provide more detailed findings and conclusions when applying the method.

This research provides first insights into PLS-SEM's use in quality management. Future research should identify the key areas and the core quality management models that best support the method's capabilities and researchers' goals.

The results of this analysis guide researchers who use the PLS-SEM method for their quality management studies.

This is the first article to systematically review the use of PLS-SEM in the quality management discipline.

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of immersive gaming on brand coolness and brand equity, with particular emphasis on fashion gaming collaborations. We used game theory as a theoretical framework to analyse immersive branding strategies and gain a deeper understanding of fashion consumers’ decision-making process in gaming environments. Gender, as a significant factor affecting gamers, has been studied as a moderator that impacts the overall proposed framework.

A quantitative method was used to assess the significance of relationships within the proposed model empirically. The partial least squares structural equation modelling technique was implemented to assess the relationships of the framework with a sample size of 160 active Malaysian gamers.

The findings indicate that brand equity is positively associated with perceived brand coolness. Furthermore, of the three core values of online games, perceived enjoyment is most strongly associated with perceived brand coolness, ahead of the values of self-expression and perceived emotional challenge. The results of the multigroup analysis further suggest that in the fashion industry, building brand equity through online games is strongly related to perceived brand coolness among female respondents, the role of perceived brand coolness being weaker among male respondents.

The study contributes to the existing literature by providing a deeper understanding of the impact of immersive gaming branding practices on the overall equity of the fashion brand. The results provide insight for fashion brand managers into the significant effect on consumer behaviour outcomes of fashion-gaming collaborations.

本研究擬探討身歷其境的遊戲體驗在品牌酷感和品牌資產上所扮演的角色; 研究特別強調裝扮遊戲的合作。研究人員以博弈論作為研究的理論框架,來分析沉浸品牌策略、和對時裝消費者在遊戲的環境中如何作出決策取得更深入的瞭解。研究人員探討了性別作為影響遊戲參與者的重要因素,這因素被視為為整個被提出的框架帶來調節的影響和作用。

研究人員採用定量方法進行研究,目的為於被提出的模型內之各種關聯的意義進行以經驗為依據的評估。研究人員採用了基於偏最小平方法的結構方程模型研究法,來對一個包含160名活躍的馬來西亞遊戲參與者的樣本進行框架的各個聯繫的評估研究。

研究結果顯示,品牌資產與品牌酷感成正相關; 而且,在網絡遊戲的三個核心價值中,感知享受與品牌酷感之間的聯繫最為強烈和密切,超過自我表現和感知情感挑戰兩者的價值; 多群組的分析結果更暗示了在時裝產業裡,透過網絡遊戲去建立品牌資產在女性回應者中是與品牌酷感有強烈密切的關係; 而在男性回應者中,品牌酷感所扮演的角色則較弱。

本研究使我們能更深入認識沉浸遊戲品牌的慣常做法如何影響時裝品牌的整體資產。研究結果為時裝品牌經理提供了啟示,使他們明瞭時裝遊戲的合作會給消費者行為產生重要的影響。

The purpose of this study is to examine crisis effects on customer satisfaction and underlying drivers by adding a new set of data to previous research. The core questions are: are the findings from Hallencreutz and Parmler (2019, 2021) sustained or can new customer demands, needs, expectations and behaviours be traced in the wake of the ongoing crisis?

A first study covering 2005–2017 was completed in 2018, published online in 2019 and in print in 2021 (Hallencreutz and Parmler, 2021). This new study adds the years 2018–2023 to the data set and reuses the partial least squares (PLS) approach to structural equation models, also known as PLS path modelling.

This additional study sustains the results from the initial study (Hallencreutz and Parmler, 2019, 2021). The variable product quality has been substituted by service quality as one of the most crucial drivers for customer satisfaction together with brand image, and the current state of permacrisis has not changed that.

The study is built on Swedish data from the EPSI Rating Initiative (Eklöf and Westlund 2002) covering customer perceptions in banking, insurance (life and non-life), telco (mobile operators, broadband and Pay-tv) and energy (trade, distribution and heating) over the years 2005–2023.

The study emphasizes the importance of understanding how customer satisfaction drivers evolve over time in different industries and societal sectors, especially during crises. This additional study sustains the paradigm shift in the studied industries – product quality has been substituted by service quality as one of the most crucial drivers for customer satisfaction, and the current state of economic downturn has not changed that.

Society will have to learn to live with political and economic instability and unpredictability for the foreseeable future. To recognize the increasing value deriving from firms’ intangible assets while providing flawless deliveries seems to be a way forward in troublesome times. This is also a catalyst for existing societal trends: the necessary reforms to master sustainable transformations will require an ongoing adaptation process, with both winners and losers across continents.

The world has coped with a global pandemic, and Europe is currently experiencing a humanitarian, political and economic crises caused by a war in Ukraine. This extended period of global instability and insecurity could be called a permacrisis (Collins dictionary, 2022). This study offers a unique quantitative analysis built on Swedish data from EPSI Rating initiative.

While there is ample discussion in management studies and organizational behavior textbooks about the factors that impact organizational outcomes, such as employee retention, this research is focused on exploring the previously unexplored question of how procedural justice, job characteristics and meaningful work influence employees' intentions to leave their organizations. As such, this study aims to investigate the impact of procedural justice on employees' intentions to leave, both independently and in conjunction with job characteristics and meaningful work as mediators.

This study uses partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to develop the research model and for hypothesis testing. The path model is assessed using critical model fit indices and measures of goodness of fit.

The results reveal a negative relationship between procedural justice and employees’ intentions to leave. This negative relationship persists and is strengthened when both job characteristics and meaningful work act as mediators. Although job characteristics only exerted a significant effect through indirect effects, meaningful work demonstrated a significant negative impact on the intentions to leave through both direct and indirect effects.

This study presents a new perspective on employee retention by proposing an original mediation-based path model. Through the testing of eleven hypotheses, the study reveals the intricate relationships between the four constructs examined. The findings provide valuable insights that can serve as a basis for future research in management studies and organizational behavior.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the appropriateness of equal weights estimation (sumscores) and the application of the composite equivalence index (CEI) vis-à-vis differentiated indicator weights produced by partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

The authors rely on prior literature as well as empirical illustrations and a simulation study to assess the efficacy of equal weights estimation and the CEI.

The results show that the CEI lacks discriminatory power, and its use can lead to major differences in structural model estimates, conceals measurement model issues and almost always leads to inferior out-of-sample predictive accuracy compared to differentiated weights produced by PLS-SEM.

In light of its manifold conceptual and empirical limitations, the authors advise against the use of the CEI. Its adoption and the routine use of equal weights estimation could adversely affect the validity of measurement and structural model results and understate structural model predictive accuracy. Although this study shows that the CEI is an unsuitable metric to decide between equal weights and differentiated weights, it does not propose another means for such a comparison.

The results suggest that researchers and practitioners should prefer differentiated indicator weights such as those produced by PLS-SEM over equal weights.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to provide a comprehensive assessment of the CEI’s usefulness. The results provide guidance for researchers considering using equal indicator weights instead of PLS-SEM-based weighted indicators.

This paper aims to investigate the direct and combined impacts of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and conservative orientation (CO) on perceived business performance (PBP) of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) under strategic-hybrid orientation (SHO) theory.

The data collected from the SABI NEO international database has 90 companies in 13 medium-to-high and high-tech activity sectors. The authors used partial least squares structural equation modelling to test the research model.

Business strategies match a SHO that includes both orientations, i.e. EO and CO. Moreover, as expected, the authors found evidence that each orientation produces performance-related sign-opposite significant impacts. Finally, the hypothesis regarding the positive synergistic effect of both orientations (EO and CO) on PBP was also supported.

One stems from the study’s cross-sectional nature, requiring a longitudinal approach. Another one resides in the absence of further examinations concerning multigroup analysis. Another restraint is the limitedness of data, focused on firms with med/high-tech intensity. For last, while the use of results in the initial stages of theory development can be beneficial, it is important to note that such results cannot be simply extrapolated or generalized to other industrial sectors without careful consideration of the contextual factors at play.

This study humbly endeavours to contribute to the finality of SMEs’ more steady and prosperous existence concerning the consciousness of the need to improve labour stability and wage fairness, conditions such as requiring a continuous commitment.

In this study, the authors aimed to investigate the impact of SHO on SMEs’ PBP. To this end, the authors simultaneously used two different strategic orientations (SOs): EO, which is widely studied in the literature, and CO, which has been less researched. The authors also examined their synergistic effects on PBP. The authors’ approach is based on Venkatraman’s strategic orientation of business enterprises model and the comparative paradigm of SOs.

The current study aims to propose and empirically investigate a conceptual model of the most relevant antecedents and consequences of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) attribution, thus providing a practical and concise model as well as examining brand attachment as a mediator explaining the relationship between CSR attribution and its consequences.

A between-subjects experimental design was employed. The study included two experimental conditions; intrinsic and extrinsic CSR attribution and a control condition. An online self-administered survey was utilised for data collection. The sample was a convenience sample of 336 university students. Both one-way between-groups ANOVA and Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) were utilised for hypotheses testing.

The most significant antecedents of CSR attribution in order of importance are the firm's approach to CSR communication, past corporate social performance, CSR type and the firm's call for customers' participation in its CSR. CSR attribution exerted a significant direct positive impact on brand attachment and trust. Three significant indirect consequences of CSR attribution were PWOM intention, purchase intention and brand loyalty intention. Whereas trust played a significant mediating role between CSR attribution and its three indirect consequences, brand attachment exerted significant mediation only between CSR attribution and brand loyalty intention. Brand attachment might mediate the relationship between CSR attribution and purchase intention. However, brand attachment failed to play a mediating role between CSR attribution and PWOM intention.

Several studies marginally investigated CSR attribution. Despite the vital role of CSR attribution in how consumers receive firms' CSR engagement, the availability of CSR attribution-centric studies is limited. By introducing a model of the most relevant antecedents and consequences of CSR attribution, this study aids in understanding the psychological mechanism underlying consumers' CSR attribution and provides valuable implications.

This paper aims to present an interactive design and simulation tool for permanent magnet synchronous machines based on the finite-element-method. The tool is intended for education and research on electrical machines.

A coupling between the software MATLAB and finite element method magnetics is used. Several functionalities are included as modular scripts and represented in the form of a graphical user interface. Included are fully parametrized motor models, automatic winding generations and the evaluation of torque waveforms, core losses and speed-torque-diagrams. A survey was conducted to determine how the motivation of students concerning the covered topics is influenced by using the tool.

Due to its simplicity and the intuitive visualization of the results, the tool provides direct access to the topic of electrical machines without having to deal with separate scripts. The modular structure of the software allows simple extensions with new functions. Because students can directly contribute to the tool with their own work, their motivation for using and extending it increases.

The presented tool offers more functionalities compared to similar free software packages, e.g. the calculation of core losses and speed-torque diagrams. Also, it is designed in such a way that it can be easily understood and extended by students.

This study aims to address customer focus as an important component of total quality management (TQM) and explore the key drivers of member satisfaction in tennis clubs via a novel theory-based member satisfaction index (MSI) model with high explanatory and predictive power. Furthermore, the study aims to investigate the relationship between satisfaction and behavioral intentions (willingness to stay; WTS) with consideration of the mediating effect of identification with the club.

This study uses variance-based partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to estimate the MSI model, which was tested in a leading tennis club in Germany (n = 185).

The results reveal that club atmosphere, club facilities and the price/quality ratio of the membership fee are the most important drivers of member satisfaction in tennis clubs. Member satisfaction has a large influence on the WTS of tennis club members. Identification with the club, when included as a mediator in the model, increases the variance explained in WTS considerably.

The small sample limits the generalizability of findings, and further research is recommended.

The MSI model is a useful benchmark tool for club managers who want to quantify the satisfaction and WTS of their club members. In addition, because of the integrated formative measurement models, the PLS-SEM results show which indicators can be used to positively impact satisfaction with each of the service quality dimensions, overall member satisfaction and WTS. The most important of these results are discussed in an importance-performance map analysis.

The MSI model is a multi-attribute index model through which members' evaluations of various dimensions of service and value are derived through multivariable linear function with each dimension weighted according to its importance in one holistic model. The model shows the strong impact of satisfaction on WTS of sports club members and reveals that findings of previous research on the relationship between fan and spectator identification and loyalty are transferable to sports club members. The MSI represents a new contribution to the literature; it was applied here to tennis clubs but is also suitable for application to other sports clubs.

This study investigates the impact of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and knowledge management (KM) on firm performance (PERF), as well as the mediating role of KM in the EO–PERF (EO-PERF relationship). In particular, this study aims to explain the impact of KM on the relationship between the EO dimensions and PERF; dimensions are risk-taking (RT), innovativeness (IN) and proactiveness (PR).

This study uses structural equation modelling and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) methodologies to explore target relationships. The sample consists of 150 small furniture manufacturers operating in Poland (out of 1,480 in the population).

The study findings show that KM partially mediates the IN–PERF relationship. Furthermore, fsQCA reveals that KM accompanied by IN is a core condition that leads to PERF. Moreover, the absence of KM (accompanied by the absence of RT and IN) leads to the absence of PERF. In addition, the results show that all the variables examined (RT, IN, PR and KM) positively impact PERF.

This study explores the role of KM in the context of EO and its impact on PERF in the low-tech industry. The study uses simultaneously two methodologies that represent different approaches in the search for the expected relationships. The findings reveal that KM mediates the EO-PERF relationship.