Qualitative analysis with structural associations

This study proposes an approach to analyze the structural associations in multi-layer problems using the new consistency. Research methods are important in identifying correct associations between antecedents and outcomes. Studies suggest using fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to explore the associations. However, fsQCA presents two problems: the definition of consistency function and the propagation of consistency values in multi-layer problems. To facilitate the explanation, this study uses the proposed approach to analyze the structural research framework and data by Lin et al. (2009) to demonstrate the process of how to obtain the structural association of a multi-layer problem.