Book Review: Handbook of Partial Least Squares: Concepts, Methods and Applications

Business and management researchers would probably agree that some applied research projects have limited participants because of the project nature. Surveying multinational CEOs, female senior executives, or physically disabled workers can be challenging because the sample size can be small and the data distribution is often skewed. These problems may cause researchers to draw incorrect inference and prevent them from carrying out structural equation modeling (SEM) where strict data assumptions are required. Partial Least Squares (PLS) is a soft-modeling approach developed by Herman Wold in the mid 60s. Since PLS is insensitive to data non-normality, with no parameter identification problem, and has relatively small sample size requirement, it is often considered by researchers to be a good alternative to traditional covariance-based approach in SEM. The first edition of the Handbook of Partial Least Squares was just published by Springer in February 2010, after a 3-year publication delay. This 800-page book is the second volume in the Springer Handbooks of Computational Statistics series. It is positioned to be a comprehensive reference guide that explores the concepts, methods, and applications of the PLS statistical procedure. The book is written for professors, PhD students, and research professionals who want to gain a bette