INCONSISTENCIES OF THE PLS-PM APPROACH TO STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELS WITH FORMATIVE-REFLECTIVE SCHEMES.

The aim of the paper is to show evidence of possible inconsistencies of PLS-PM as a statistical tool to estimate structural equation models with formative-reflective schemes. We pursue this goal, discussing a real-data example where PLS-PM fails to identify existing causal links between the variables concerned. We also suggest a possible formal interpretation of this fact, focusing on the way PLS-PM represents the link between reflective latent variables and their indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]