• Log In
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

MIS Distinguished Speaker Series

Temple University

Detmar Straub to speak on Specifying Formative Constructs in Empirical Research

September 11, 2009 By Sunil Wattal

Specifying Formative Constructs in Empirical Research

Detmar Straub

J. Mack Robinson Distinguished Professor of Information Systems
Computer Information Systems & Center for Process Innovation  
J. Mack Robinson College of Business
Georgia State University

September 18, 2009
Alter Hall 404, 1000 –  11:30am

Abstract

While researchers go to great lengths to justify and prove theoretical links between constructs, the relationship between measurement items and constructs is often ignored. By default, the relationship between construct and item is assumed to be reflective, meaning that the measurement items are a reflection of the construct. Many times, though, the nature of the construct is not reflective, but rather formative. Formative constructs occur when the items describe and define the construct rather than vice versa.

In this research, we examine whether formative constructs are indeed being mistaken for reflective constructs by information systems researchers. By examining complete volumes of MIS Quarterly and Information Systems Research over the last 3 years, we discovered that a significant number of articles have indeed misspecified formative constructs. For scientific results to be valid, we argue that researchers must properly specify formative constructs. This paper discusses the implications of different patterns of common misspecifications of formative constructs on both Type I and Type II errors. To avoid these errors, the paper provides a roadmap to researchers to properly specify formative constructs. We also discuss how to address formative constructs within a research model after they are specified.

Download complete paper (password: Aristotle)

Tagged With: detmar straub, formative constructs, georgia state

Primary Sidebar

RSS MIS News

  • AIS Student Chapter Leadership Conference 2025 April 17, 2025
  • Temple AIS wins at the 2024 AIS Software Innovation Challenge! January 15, 2025
  • 10 Week Summer Internship in CyberSecurity October 7, 2024
  • Volunteer for Cybersecurity Awareness Month October 7, 2024
  • MIS faculty awarded promotions June 17, 2024

Tags

AI amrit tiwana Artificial Intelligence blockchain boston college bots brian butler carnegie mellon univ crowd culture deception Deep Learning Design experiment Field Experiment financial technology georgia state georgia tech Healthcare Human vs AI information security Innovation Institutional Theory IT Outsourcing long tail Machine Learning machines Maryland media Online Communities platform privacy productivity Quasi-natural experiment recommender systems simulation Social Capital social media social network steven johnson technology adoption temple univ user generated content UT Dallas wharton

Archives

Copyright © 2025 Department of Management Information Systems · Fox School of Business · Temple University