Moderating effect test: different results

Questions about the implementation and application of the PLS-SEM method, that are not related to the usage of the SmartPLS software.
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xchen99
PLS Junior User
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Oct 14, 2017 1:36 am
Real name and title: Xavier Chen, assistant professor

Moderating effect test: different results

Post by xchen99 »

Dear experts:
I am testing the moderating effect of a moderator variable (response cost) on a relationship between sanction severity and compliance. All my latent variables are measured with reflective indicators. When I ran the moderating test in SmartPLS3, I first used the two-stage approach, the result is no moderating effect. Then, I ran the test again using the product indicator approach, the result shows a significant moderating effect. The data has 232 records. I set the resampling at 5000. Please see the following two images for the two results. I am not sure how to interpret the results. Would you help me to comprehend the two different results?

Thank you very much!

Xavier

The two stage result:
moderating-two stage.PNG
moderating-two stage.PNG (8.39 KiB) Viewed 6036 times
The product indicator result:
moderating-product indicator.PNG
moderating-product indicator.PNG (13.76 KiB) Viewed 6036 times
xchen99
PLS Junior User
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Oct 14, 2017 1:36 am
Real name and title: Xavier Chen, assistant professor

Re: Moderating effect test: different results

Post by xchen99 »

I am puzzled by the different results from the two approaches. I thought that the two stage approach has higher statistic power than the product indicator approach. But the results seem showing the other way around: the product indicator approach shows the significant moderating effect, but the two stage approach shows insignificant effect. It seems to me that in this case product indicator approach has higher statistical power.
jmbecker
SmartPLS Developer
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Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2006 11:09 am
Real name and title: Dr. Jan-Michael Becker

Re: Moderating effect test: different results

Post by jmbecker »

Which options do you use with the product indicator approach. It is usally recommended to use standardzed variables before multiplication in the product terms because all other (latent) variables in the model are also standardized.
Dr. Jan-Michael Becker, BI Norwegian Business School, SmartPLS Developer
Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jan_Michael_Becker
GoogleScholar: http://scholar.google.de/citations?user ... AAAJ&hl=de
xchen99
PLS Junior User
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Oct 14, 2017 1:36 am
Real name and title: Xavier Chen, assistant professor

Re: Moderating effect test: different results

Post by xchen99 »

Dr. Becker,

Thanks for your reply. I did use the Standardized option for Product Term Generation when setting up the moderator.

Should any other settings I need to change?

Thanks,
Xavier
jmbecker
SmartPLS Developer
Posts: 1282
Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2006 11:09 am
Real name and title: Dr. Jan-Michael Becker

Re: Moderating effect test: different results

Post by jmbecker »

I think a potential problem is that all the effects are very small. Therefore, it can easily happen that you just find some chance effects that might not be really there. I don't know how the rest of your model looks like, but given the snippet of results that you showed us, I would not trust any of the two results.
Dr. Jan-Michael Becker, BI Norwegian Business School, SmartPLS Developer
Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jan_Michael_Becker
GoogleScholar: http://scholar.google.de/citations?user ... AAAJ&hl=de
xchen99
PLS Junior User
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Oct 14, 2017 1:36 am
Real name and title: Xavier Chen, assistant professor

Re: Moderating effect test: different results

Post by xchen99 »

Dear Dr. Becker,

Thank you so much for your reply. I will take your suggestion into consideration when I explain the result.

Thanks again,
Xavier
asifkhan
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Joined: Sat Nov 04, 2017 6:13 pm
Real name and title: Asif

Double Moderation effect

Post by asifkhan »

, In my model I have two IVs single DV and two moderating variables. how can I check for the combine effect of these two moderating variables
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