Reflective or formative measurement model of sustainability factor? A three industry comparison

Abstract

The sustainability concept is commonly used in many domains. However, the assessment of reflective and formative measurement has been ignored largely. As a result, sustainability factor scales are specified wrongly and this might lead to reduced scale validity. The aim of the study is find out the nature of sustainability factors either reflective or formative by investigating three distinct industrial settings in Bangladesh. A quantitative research design is used and the data is analysed through Partial Least Square (PLS) analysis. PLS analysis validates the indicators and factors. Sustainability factors in context of microbusiness and supply chain found reflective in nature whereas in e-business it was formative. The study suggests that sustainability factor is a context specific phenomena and it can be treated either reflective or formative.