The Use of Partial Least Squares (PLS) to Address Marketing Management Topics

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 appropriate method to address a particular research question. We then explain how to evaluate the results when PLS-SEM is applied. To facilitate future PLS-SEM applications, we provide rules of thumb on choosing PLS-SEM rather than CB-SEM, model specification, data characteristics, and model evaluation throughout the paper. The rules of thumb will be a convenient single source of guidelines for experienced PLS-SEM path modelers and an excellent overview of important considerations for those with limited knowledge of SEM procedures