PLS-Path Modeling for FYP

Reflective vs Formative Measurement Models

Reflective Construct

Construct: Diet

D1 = I eat healthy food
D2 = I don’t eat much junk food
D3 = I have a balance diet

Indicators must highly be correlated (Hulland, 1999)
Construct describes and defines the items
If factor loading is low, then the item can be deleted.

Characteristics of Reflective Model

Direction of causality is from construct to indicators.
Indicators are expected to be correlated.
Dropping an indicator from the measurement model does not alter the meaning of the construct.
Takes measurement error into account.
Similar to factor analysis.

Formative Construct

Construct: Health

H1 = I have a balance diet
H2 = I exercise regularly
H3 = I get sufficient sleep every night

Indicators can have positive, negative, and no correlation (Hulland, 1999).
Items describe and define the construct.
If weight is low, then the item cannot be deleted.

Characteristics of Formative Model

Direction of causality is from indicators to construct.
Indicators are not expected to be correlated.
Dropping an indicator may alter the meaning of the construct (No such thing as internal consistency reliability).
Based on multiple regression analysis (Need to take care of multicollinearity).

Satisfaction as a Formative and Reflective Construct

Source: Hair et al., (2014)

Problems in Specification

Reflective indicators are interchangeable. Deleting an item does not change the essential nature of the construct.

With formative indicators, omitting an indicator is omitting a part of the construct (Diamantopoulos & Winklhofer, 2001)

Reflective measurement is most commonly used, but in many cases a formative measurement would be appropriate.

Guidelines for Choosing the Measurement Model Model

Source: Hair et al., (2014)

Further Reading

Chang, W., Franke, G. R., & Lee, N. (2016). Comparing reflective and formative measures: New insights from relevant simulations. Journal of Business Research, 69(8), 3177-3185. Click here.

Finn, A., & Wang, L. (2014). Formative vs. reflective measures: Facets of variation. Journal of Business Research, 67(1), 2821-2826. Click here.

Diamantopoulos, A., & Siguaw, J. A. (2006). Formative versus reflective indicators in organizational measure development: A comparison and empirical illustration. British Journal of Management, 17(4), 263-282. Click here.

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