Purpose: Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) has become an established social sciences multivariate analysis technique. Since quality management researchers also increasingly using PLS-SEM, this growing interest calls for guidance.Design/methodology/approach: Based on established guidelines for applying PLS-SEM and evaluating the results, this research reviews 107 articles applying the method and published in eight leading quality management journals.Findings: The use of PLS-SEM in quality management often only draws on limited information and analysis results. The discipline would benefit from the method's more comprehensive use by following established guidelines. Specifically, the use of predictive model assessment and more advanced PLS-SEM analyses harbors the potential to provide more detailed findings and conclusions when applying the method.Research limitations/implications: This research provides first insights into PLS-SEM's use in quality management. Future research should identify the key areas and the core quality management models that best support the method's capabilities and researchers' goals.Practical implications: The results of this analysis guide researchers who use the PLS-SEM method for their quality management studies.Originality/value: This is the first article to systematically review the use of PLS-SEM in the quality management discipline.

In the past decade, extensive research has been conducted on the effects of user-generated content (UGC) on consumers’ travel-related attitudes and decisions (Filieri, 2016; Howison, Finger, & Haus...

Purpose: Although cross-border e-commerce has become increasingly popular among small and medium-sized enterprises as a foreign market entry mode, research on the determinants of its success is scarce. Drawing on the resource-based view, this study aims to examine the relationship between a firm’s information technology, international marketing and export operations capabilities and its cross-border e-commerce strategic and financial performance.Design/methodology/approach: Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze data from a sample of Italian exporters in the food and beverage industry.Findings: The results highlight the mixed effects of information technology, international marketing and export operations capabilities on both e-commerce strategic and financial performance. Moreover, the use of third-party e-commerce platforms reduces the effect of exporters’ information technology capabilities on their e-commerce financial performance.Research limitations/implications: The majority of exporters in this study had implemented cross-border e-commerce only recently; hence, longitudinal data on the success factors of e-commerce are not available.Practical implications: While cross-border e-commerce may work as an accelerator of the overall export performance, export managers are urged to approach it strategically with a clear medium-term view to develop the required capabilities.Originality/value: This study was one of the first to examine the drivers of small and medium-sized exporters’ cross-border e-commerce performance. Moreover, unlike most previous analyzes, it focused on e-commerce as a foreign market entry mode rather than a supplement to offline exporting activities.