A hierarchical component model for sustainable performance measurement of maintenance practices: A fourth-order PLS-SEM approach

Abstract

Despite the growing recognition of the significant role played by effective maintenance practices in pursuing sustainability goals, a rigorous and validated method to assess and monitor its activities’ impacts on the triple-bottom-line is still lacking. To address this gap, this paper proposes a fourth-order Hierarchical Component Model (HCM) for sustainable performance measurement of maintenance practices based on PLS-SEM approach. To validate the model, Oil & Gas industry is surveyed, where a total of 207 responses are obtained from maintenance experts in the Gulf region. The results of the study support the indicators’ reliability as well as the first-order constructs’ internal consistency, convergent validity and discriminant validity. An embedded multistage approach for the higher-order constructs measurement models evaluation reveals that they exhibit satisfactory levels of quality. The structural model evaluation supports the significance of the hypothesized paths, a strong degree of predictive relevance, and the hypothesized mediation relationships proved significant. Finally, the total effect analysis demonstrates that “Energy Use” has the highest effect among first-order variables followed by “Material use”, ‘Costs & Returns”, “Emission & Pollution”, and “Effluents & Waste”. Furthermore, “Energy Use” related indicators have the highest weights among all indicators. This study provides empirical evidence on the causal background of the proposed model’s implicated elements on sustainable performance of maintenance. The findings offer guidance to practitioners in this area and useful insights to decision-makers, as it enables them to determine the inherent impacts of the model components on the overall performance and allocate resources efficiently to increase the maintenance sustainability level.