A Reply to “Structural Parameters under Partial Least Squares and Covariance-based Structural Equation Modeling: A Comment on Yuan and Deng (2021)” by Schuberth, Rosseel, Rönkkö, Trichera, Kline, and Henseler (2023)

Abstract

This is a follow-up reply to “Structural parameters under partial least squares and covariance-based structural equation modeling: A comment on Yuan and Deng (2021)” by Schuberth et al. (2023). In this reply, explanations are provided on why the messages in the comment article are mostly from a lack of a coherent understanding of the results in Yuan and Deng (2021, YD21). Implications of the results in YD21 are explicated to facilitate proper comparison between covariance-based structural equation modeling (SEM) and partial least-squares SEM. The meaning of bias and mean-squared errors for parameter estimates is also elaborated for models involving latent variables that have no predefined scales.