Jörg Henseler

University of Twente | UT · Department of Design, Production and Management

Purpose – Partial least squares (PLS) path modeling is a variance-based structural equation modeling (SEM) technique that is widely applied in business and social sciences. Its ability to model composites and factors makes it a formidable statistical tool for new technology research. Recent reviews, discussions, and developments have led to substan...

This paper addresses Rönkkö & Evermann’s (2013) criticisms of the partial least squares (PLS) approach to structural equation modeling (SEM). We contend that the alleged shortcomings of PLS are not due to problems with the technique, but instead to three problems with Rönkkö & Evermann’s (2013) study: (1) the adherence to the common factor model, (...

This paper resumes the discussion in information systems research on the use of partial least squares (PLS) path modeling and shows that the inconsistency of PLS path coefficient estimates in the case of reflective measurement can have adverse consequences for hypothesis testing. To remedy this, the study introduces a vital extension of PLS: consis...

Discriminant validity assessment has become a generally accepted prerequisite for analyzing relationships between latent variables. For variance-based structural equa-tion modeling, such as partial least squares, the Fornell-Larcker criterion and the examination of cross-loadings are the dominant approaches for evaluating discriminant validity. By...

This paper introduces a vital extension to partial least squares path modeling: consistency. While maintaining all strengths of PLS, the consistent version provides two key improvements. Path coefficients, parameters of simultaneous equations, construct correlations, and indicator loadings are estimated consistently. And the global goodness of fit...

Research in human development often relies on composites, that is, composed variables such as indices. Their composite nature renders these variables inaccessible to conventional factor-centric psychometric validation techniques such as confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). In the context of human development research, there is currently no appropria...

A strukturális egyenletek módszere (SEM) népszerű többváltozós elemzési eszköz a marketingkutatások területén, mivel látens változók és a közöttük lévő kapcsolatok feltárását teszi lehetővé. A módszer két fő iránya a varianciaalapú (PLS) és a kovarianciaalapú (CB) megközelítés mostanra egyenrangú elemzési módszerek a nemzetközi publikációkban, kösz...

Structural equation modeling (SEM) plays an important role in business and social science and so do composites, that is, linear combinations of variables. However, existing approaches to integrate composites into structural equation models still have limitations. A major leap forward has been the Henseler–Ogasawara (H–O) specification, which for th...

In the face of numerous complex challenges at the ecological, economic, and social levels, Social Entrepreneurship Organizations (SEOs) offer an approach that is both solution-oriented and future-oriented by combining profitability and purpose. However, the achievement of social goals is closely linked to the ability to operate successfully in comp...

Confirmatory composite analysis (CCA) was recently proposed as a viable approach to modeling and assessing forged concepts, i.e., theoretical concepts that emerge from their components within their environment. This study introduces CCA to the field of tourism and hospitality research and shows how CCA can be conducted using estimators known from s...

Indices are often used to model theoretical concepts in economics and finance. Beyond the econometric models used to test the relationships between these variables, partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) allows the study of complex models, but it is an estimator that is still in its infancy in economics and finance research. Thus, the use of...

Firms all over the world have started initiatives and made investments in projects to help discover the benefits of digital technologies. This transformation has had an impact on the marketing and sales relationship and the role of IT. Researchers have confirmed the need for interdepartmental alignment, but the integration of all three disciplines...

In their article, Yuan and Deng argue that a structural parameter under partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is zero if and only if the same structural parameter is zero under covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM). Yuan and Deng then conclude that statistical tests on individual structural parameters assessi...

COVID-19 made evident the need for workplace digital transformation due to a rapid transition from office to remote work. Therefore, employers must make telework suitable for office workers who suddenly became permanent teleworkers. By using partial least squares path modeling, this article suggests the defining of telework tasks suitability and of...

Contemporary Approaches Studying Customer Experience in Tourism Research develops approaches and related methods to understand, analyze, and evaluate the tourist consumption experience under its different forms and stages (before, during and after the experience), offering a broader view by integrating the tourist/customer experience in its develop...

Heterogeneity is a pertinent issue in Information Systems (IS) research because human behavior often differs across groups. In the partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) context, several approaches have been proposed to investigate potential group differences. Despite the availability of numerous approaches, literature that compares their eff...

This article outlines a bespoke process for uncovering crucial economic and social considerations in the quest to convert the Dutch plastic packaging system from a linear to a circular economy. Using a serious game tool as part of a qualitative research method, we developed, prioritized, and elaborated on various conceivable and effective policies...

Solving urbanization problems, especially in developing countries, solely through the adoption of smartness in urban areas is insufficient as urbanization is mostly driven by the wide urban-rural economic gap. To narrow this gap, the adoption of smartness needs to be extended into rural areas. However, studies in that direction are still lacking. T...

Purpose In their paper titled “A Miracle of Measurement or Accidental Constructivism? How PLS Subverts the Realist Search for Truth,” Cadogan and Lee (2022) cast serious doubt on PLS’s suitability for scientific studies. The purpose of this commentary is to discuss the claims of Cadogan and Lee, correct some inaccuracies, and derive recommendations...

Purpose This study aims to examine the role of an overall model fit assessment in the context of partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM). In doing so, it will explain when it is important to assess the overall model fit and provides ways of assessing the fit of composite models. Moreover, it will resolve major concerns about model fit assessme...

Due to rapidly changing business environments, purchasing and supply management (PSM) organisations are constantly confronted with new problems impacting organisational performance. PSM research can address these problems through design science research. Design science is also regarded as the science of the artificial. Design science research is a...

Electric vehicles as part of corporate fleets play a key role in reducing CO2 emissions. However, business practice has shown that employees often refrain from using these newly procured fleet vehicles. The aim of this paper is therefore to explain the drivers and barriers of acceptance of electric vehicles on the employee's level. Based on a Groun...

In 2012 and 2013, several critical publications questioned many alleged PLS properties. As a consequence, PLS benefited from a boost of developments. It is, therefore, a good time to review these developments. Evermann and Rönkkö devote their paper to this task and formulate guidelines in the form of 14 recommendations. Yet, while they identified t...

Studying and modeling theoretical concepts is a cornerstone activity in information systems (IS) research. Researchers have been familiar with one type of theoretical concept, namely behavioral concepts, which are assumed to exist in nature and measured by a set of observable variables. In this paper, we present a second type of theoretical concept...

Purpose Accomplishing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is imperative for societies to meet their grand challenges. Achieving these goals by 2030 requires sustainability change agents with a can-do-attitude. This study aims to show how institutions of higher education can become partners for social marketing in bringing forwa...

Confirmatory composite analysis (CCA) is a structural equation modeling (SEM) technique that specifies and assesses composite models. In a composite model, the construct emerges as a linear combination of observed variables. CCA was invented by Jörg Henseler and Theo K. Dijkstra in 2014, was subsequently fully elaborated by Schuberth et al. (2018),...

This paper investigates whether gamified experiences in a multi-actor service ecosystem can be used to encourage customers’ information exchange behavior. Furthermore, it examines the impact of customers’ knowledge sharing attitude on the relationship between experiential value and customers’ information exchange behavior. Structural equation model...

Purpose One popular method to assess discriminant validity in structural equation modeling is the heterotrait-monotrait ratio of correlations (HTMT). However, the HTMT assumes tau-equivalent measurement models, which are unlikely to hold for most empirical studies. To relax this assumption, the authors modify the original HTMT and introduce a new c...

Variance-based SEM, also known under the term partial least squares (PLS) analysis, is an approach that has gained increasing interest among marketing researchers in recent years. During the last 25 years, more than 30 articles have been published in leading marketing journals that have applied this approach instead of the more traditional alternat...

This paper provides insights into the interdisciplinary intersections between marketing and design. It explores the various design intersections in the marketing fields. The collaboration between marketing and design is restricted by the paradigm boundaries, but not by the industry, researchers, and research projects. Challenges for both discipline...

Existing literature showed that motivating consumers to defend a brand during a brand crisis can be an effective approach to deal with brand crises. However, antecedents of consumers’ motivation to defend a brand and the feasibility of co-creation during a brand crisis are not well explored. The study explores the antecedents which influence consum...

This study investigates the relative impacts of the facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) on the first impressions business professionals form of business consultants when seeing their photographs on a corporate website or LinkedIn page. By applying conjoint analysis on field experiment data ( n = 381), we find that in a zero-acquaintance situation b...

Contemporary socio-technological shifts within global societies indicate that the preferences and values of a converging, well-informed and digitally connected society have shifted towards a movement based on sustainability and healthy and environmentally friendly common values. The effect of artificial intelligence has changed the nature of market...

Online communities are an important source of distributed intelligence and novelty for any firm. Their evolving independence exhibits purpose and progress of the individuals in them. However, research on community innovation is disparate, with literature enshrouded in macroperspectives of a firm's largest external source of innovation. Utilizing cr...

Purpose The purpose of this study is to identify the practices used by service providers to manage the customer service experience (CSE) across multiple phases of the customer journey in a business-to-business (B2B) setting. Design/methodology/approach This study comprises an ethnography that investigates in real time, from a dyadic perspective, a...

Interactions in service ecosystems, as opposed to the service dyad, have recently gained much attention from research. However, it is still unclear how they influence a customer’s experiential value and trigger desired prosocial behavior. The purpose of this study is to identify which elements of the multi-actor service ecosystem contribute to a cu...

Despite packaging sustainability aspects often being embedded in companies’ strategic aims, the structured implementation of such targets is limited at the operational level, where a product’s commercial viability (strategic fit, business case feasibility, and a limitation of commercial risks) and development aspects (timing issues, material use, a...

This editorial article reports on interdisciplinary research being conducted at the interface between the scientific disciplines of marketing and design. It reviews the 11 academic papers from the special issue situated at this intersection, thereby showing the richness of research happening in this liminal area. At the same time, the paper observe...

The purpose of this paper is to investigate selling actors in multi-actor sales ecosystems. When selling actors start taking over tasks that were formerly performed by salespeople, the distribution of tasks, allocation of responsibilities and finally the role of the salespeople changes. However, little is known about salespersons’ perceptions of se...

Purpose The enabling technologies that emerged from information technology (IT) have had a considerable influence upon the development of marketing tools, and marketing has become digitalized by adopting these technologies over time. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the impacts of these enabling technologies on marketing tools in the pas...

Top managers know that time and timing are important aspects of building a personal brand as their careers develop. Although career research acknowledges the importance of time as a construct, so far it has been less explored empirically, particularly given the idea that careers and personal brands are not only developed over time but must also be...

Personal branding represents a viable marketing option for individuals and organisations to achieve increasing competitiveness and success. Nonetheless, there is a gap to be bridged between application in practice and academic foundation. The field of personal branding is under-researched and “simply having a brand, personal or otherwise, cannot of...

We enhance the theory beyond the dimension of Service-dominant-Logic by constructing a conceptual framework coined as the Design-Dominant Logic aligning diverse challenges that marketing faces into a holistic framework by delivering a solid model to cope with disruptions. We construct for co-evolutionary a foundation towards the “market-within” dim...

Before engaging with the already intensive and still increasing personal branding activities in many fields of practice, a scholarly approach would call for a more specific definition of the concept of personal branding processes and the resulting human brands. A multi-step analysis of the growing body of literature on personal branding is employed...

Confirmatory composite analysis (CCA) was invented by Jörg Henseler and Theo K. Dijkstra in 2014 and elaborated by Schuberth et al. (2018b) as an innovative set of procedures for specifying and assessing composite models. Composite models consist of two or more interrelated constructs, all of which emerge as linear combinations of extant variables,...

The study’s purpose is threefold: (i) 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, (ii) to provide and evaluate two testing procedures to assess the overall model fit of such models, and (iii) to introd...

Outliers can seriously distort the results of statistical analyses and thus threaten the validity of structural equation models. As a remedy, this article introduces a robust variant of Partial Least Squares Path Modeling (PLS) and consistent Partial Least Squares (PLSc) called robust PLS and robust PLSc, respectively, which are robust against dist...

The assumption that corporate brand identity is an internal creation is increasingly challenged by recently published research, which discusses identity as an ongoing social process of co-creation. The majority of the resulting insights relate to business-to-consumer brands and the relevance of brand identity co-creation to business-to-business bra...

Partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) is an estimator that has found widespread application for causal information systems (IS) research. Recently, the method has been subject to many improvements, such as consistent PLS (PLSc) for latent variable models, a bootstrap-based test for overall model fit, and the heterotrait-to-monotrait ratio of...

Design thinking has been one of the hot topics in the management discourse of the last decade (Kimbell 2011; Shamiyeh 2016). Since Nobel laureate Herbert Simon brought up the concept, the term has been consistently shaped and reshaped, and various applications within diverse management disciplines have been studied. It is surprising that despite it...

Social Entrepreneurship Organizations (SEOs) aim to solve social, environmental or societal problems even as they strive to work profitably. The achievement of the social mission also requires economic viability and differentiation from the competition. Acting in contested markets, SEOs must, therefore, adopt a competitive strategy to deliver servi...

Purpose – People seem to function according to different models, which implies that in business and social sciences, heterogeneity is a rule rather than an exception. Researchers can investigate such heterogeneity through multigroup analysis (MGA). In the context of partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM), MGA is currently applied to perform m...

Visibility of top managers in general and the management of their on- and off-field visibility in particular has not been yet examined empirically in the pursuit of developing a personal brand across the various stages of top managers’ career. This study in progress takes up this perspective and adopts a process perspective aimed at uncovering emer...

Purpose An unconscious concern regarding one’s inevitable death, known as mortality salience, may affect consumers’ brand choices in the aftermath of disastrous events, such as earthquakes. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of self-identification with global consumer culture (IDGCC) in global brand purchase intention in response to d...

There is a need to conceptually link findings from specific experience areas and to generalize from them to overarching principles of experiences. Building on recent syntheses and conceptualizations, we contribute to this discussion and synthesis by proposing a framework that we think answers questions regarding the role of the brand in the custome...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons for the discontinuation of sports sponsor–sponsee relationships and categorize them. Despite the negative outcomes of a sponsorship dissolution, research on this topic is rather scarce. Design/methodology/approach The paper relies on an analysis of 24 historical cases and 19 in-depth inte...

The corresponding author wishes to make the following corrections to this paper [...]

In van Riel et al. (2017), an inaccuracy appears in the description of the matrices. On page 467, the matrix S* is incorrectly described as the matrix of consistent correlations between the first-order constructs, while S* actually should refer to the first-order construct score correlation matrix (i.e., the correlations between first-order constru...

This article introduces confirmatory composite analysis (CCA) as a structural equation modeling technique that aims at testing composite models. It facilitates the operationalization and assessment of design concepts, so-called artifacts. CCA entails the same steps as confirmatory factor analysis: model specification, model identification, model es...

Purpose As technology in tourism and hospitality (TTH) develops technical artifacts according to visitors’ demands, it must deal with both behavioral and design constructs in the context of structural equation modeling (SEM). While behavioral constructs are typically modeled as common factors, the study at hand introduces the composite into TTH to...

While ‘personal branding’ as a term is a modern invention, the branding of individuals is as old as human interaction. Alexander the Great is claimed as the first celebrity in human history (Braudy, 1997), Shakespeare stated, that “all the world is a stage, and the men and women are merely actors” (Keehn, 2013) and Andy Warhol’s “idea that ‘everyon...

Auxiliary theories are indispensable to operationalize abstract concepts in structural equation modeling (SEM). While for behavioral concepts, such as traits or attitudes, auxiliary theories already exist, the current literature lacks of auxiliary theories for design concepts. Obviously, this is particularly disadvantageous for disciplines that inv...

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the ways in which “non-collaborative co-creation” can affect brand equity as perceived by independent observers. It reports a study of the different effects on that perception attributable to non-collaborative co-creation that takes the form of either “brand play” or “brand attack” and is executed either by es...

Experiential marketing instruments and the extraordinary experiences they provide are one of the strongest means of branding in B2C. Inter alia as brand worlds, they also exist in B2B marketing practice, but have only received limited attention from the B2B branding perspective. Differences between B2C and B2B branding raise questions regarding why...