PLS Path Analysis and its Application for the Examination of the Psychological Sense of a Brand Community

Latent variable modeling is a matter of current concern in many fields in which structural equation modeling (SEM) is frequently applied. Within the model family, the most popular techniques are the covariance based (CB-SEM) and the variance based (PLS-SEM) methods. The latter one, however, which is known as PLS path analysis or PLS algorithm. The aim of this paper is to give a short overview on the PLS-SEM and introduce a possible application in the field of marketing. In the application the study examines how the psychological sense of a brand community may occur in a special case, in the case of a music festival, and how the psychological sense of a brand community can influence loyalty. The results show that in the case of a music festival the psychological sense of a brand community influences brand commitment, loyalty intentions and the word-of-mouth positively as well.