Ordered indicators are common in survey-based SEM applications. This vignette reuses the Theory of Planned Behavior example but illustrates how to run the model when the manifest variables are ordinal.

Theory of Planned Behavior (Ordered Indicators)

tpb <- ' 
# Outer Model (Based on Hagger et al., 2007)
  ATT =~ att1 + att2 + att3 + att4 + att5
  SN =~ sn1 + sn2
  PBC =~ pbc1 + pbc2 + pbc3
  INT =~ int1 + int2 + int3
  BEH =~ b1 + b2

# Inner Model (Based on Steinmetz et al., 2011)
  INT ~ ATT + SN + PBC
  BEH ~ INT + PBC 
'

fit_cat <- pls(
  tpb,
  data      = TPB_Ordered,
  bootstrap = TRUE,
  sample    = 500,
  ordered   = colnames(TPB_Ordered) # explicitly specify ordered variables
)
summary(fit_cat)
#> plssem (0.1.0) ended normally after 4 iterations
#> 
#>   Estimator                                    OrdPLSc
#>   Link                                          PROBIT
#>                                                       
#>   Number of observations                          2000
#>   Number of iterations                               4
#>   Number of latent variables                         5
#>   Number of observed variables                      15
#> 
#> R-squared (indicators):
#>   att1                                           0.862
#>   att2                                           0.777
#>   att3                                           0.825
#>   att4                                           0.743
#>   att5                                           0.867
#>   sn1                                            0.805
#>   sn2                                            0.886
#>   pbc1                                           0.863
#>   pbc2                                           0.865
#>   pbc3                                           0.781
#>   int1                                           0.815
#>   int2                                           0.821
#>   int3                                           0.754
#>   b1                                             0.781
#>   b2                                             0.773
#> 
#> R-squared (latents):
#>   INT                                            0.368
#>   BEH                                            0.198
#> 
#> Latent Variables:
#>                  Estimate  Std.Error  z.value  P(>|z|)
#>   ATT =~        
#>     att1            0.928      0.017   54.749    0.000
#>     att2            0.882      0.019   46.731    0.000
#>     att3            0.908      0.019   46.965    0.000
#>     att4            0.862      0.022   39.838    0.000
#>     att5            0.931      0.018   52.384    0.000
#>   SN =~         
#>     sn1             0.897      0.014   65.464    0.000
#>     sn2             0.941      0.015   63.502    0.000
#>   PBC =~        
#>     pbc1            0.929      0.014   67.754    0.000
#>     pbc2            0.930      0.015   60.303    0.000
#>     pbc3            0.884      0.016   55.031    0.000
#>   INT =~        
#>     int1            0.903      0.014   65.951    0.000
#>     int2            0.906      0.014   65.438    0.000
#>     int3            0.868      0.015   57.872    0.000
#>   BEH =~        
#>     b1              0.884      0.019   46.127    0.000
#>     b2              0.879      0.018   48.568    0.000
#> 
#> Regressions:
#>                  Estimate  Std.Error  z.value  P(>|z|)
#>   INT ~         
#>     ATT             0.239      0.029    8.258    0.000
#>     SN              0.209      0.033    6.274    0.000
#>     PBC             0.239      0.035    6.814    0.000
#>   BEH ~         
#>     PBC             0.286      0.028   10.080    0.000
#>     INT             0.219      0.029    7.462    0.000
#> 
#> Covariances:
#>                  Estimate  Std.Error  z.value  P(>|z|)
#>   ATT ~~        
#>     SN              0.623      0.015   41.680    0.000
#>     PBC             0.690      0.013   53.961    0.000
#>   SN ~~         
#>     PBC             0.690      0.014   48.857    0.000
#> 
#> Variances:
#>                  Estimate  Std.Error  z.value  P(>|z|)
#>     ATT             1.000                             
#>     SN              1.000                             
#>     PBC             1.000                             
#>    .INT             0.632      0.020   32.282    0.000
#>    .BEH             0.802      0.018   44.949    0.000
#>    .att1            0.138      0.031    4.397    0.000
#>    .att2            0.223      0.033    6.709    0.000
#>    .att3            0.175      0.035    4.998    0.000
#>    .att4            0.257      0.037    6.898    0.000
#>    .att5            0.133      0.033    4.012    0.000
#>    .sn1             0.195      0.025    7.935    0.000
#>    .sn2             0.114      0.028    4.081    0.000
#>    .pbc1            0.137      0.025    5.389    0.000
#>    .pbc2            0.135      0.029    4.696    0.000
#>    .pbc3            0.219      0.028    7.737    0.000
#>    .int1            0.185      0.025    7.463    0.000
#>    .int2            0.179      0.025    7.151    0.000
#>    .int3            0.246      0.026    9.448    0.000
#>    .b1              0.219      0.034    6.441    0.000
#>    .b2              0.227      0.032    7.122    0.000