Post-hoc analysis of digital development in PLS-SEM

Abstract

This study attempts to determine and visually present the effect of educational, economic, energy-related, and ecological latent variables and adequate manifest variables on digital development in 33 European nations from 2010 to 2016. The results are presented using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) methodology to evaluate the model's fit. Afterwards, the importance-performance map analysis (IPMA) was generated in order to perform post-hoc analysis. The IPMA indicates that the social latent variable has positive effects on digital development, as demonstrated by a performance score over 50. The effects of the energetic latent variable on digitalization reflect the lowest performance and the lowest positive effects. Therefore, the findings recommend an extensive examination of the interaction between energy-related factors and the diffusion of environmentally responsible digital progress. In reverse, the ecological latent variable has an adverse effect on digital development, as any drop in air pollution emissions is related to digital development.