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,
  boot.R    = 50,
  ordered   = colnames(TPB_Ordered) # explicitly specify ordered variables
)
summary(fit_cat)
#> plssem (0.1.2) ended normally after 3 iterations
#> 
#>   Estimator                                    OrdPLSc
#>   Link                                          PROBIT
#>                                                       
#>   Number of observations                          2000
#>   Number of iterations                               3
#>   Number of latent variables                         5
#>   Number of observed variables                      15
#> 
#> Fit Measures:
#>   Chi-Square                                   263.165
#>   Degrees of Freedom                                82
#>   SRMR                                           0.011
#>   RMSEA                                          0.033
#> 
#> 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   55.427    0.000
#>     att2            0.882      0.020   44.279    0.000
#>     att3            0.908      0.019   48.480    0.000
#>     att4            0.862      0.021   41.168    0.000
#>     att5            0.931      0.021   44.623    0.000
#>   SN =~         
#>     sn1             0.897      0.016   56.964    0.000
#>     sn2             0.941      0.014   66.291    0.000
#>   PBC =~        
#>     pbc1            0.929      0.013   69.693    0.000
#>     pbc2            0.930      0.014   65.690    0.000
#>     pbc3            0.884      0.015   59.217    0.000
#>   INT =~        
#>     int1            0.903      0.013   71.887    0.000
#>     int2            0.906      0.012   75.656    0.000
#>     int3            0.868      0.016   55.904    0.000
#>   BEH =~        
#>     b1              0.884      0.022   40.849    0.000
#>     b2              0.879      0.021   42.451    0.000
#> 
#> Regressions:
#>                  Estimate  Std.Error  z.value  P(>|z|)
#>   INT ~         
#>     ATT             0.239      0.027    8.692    0.000
#>     SN              0.209      0.025    8.389    0.000
#>     PBC             0.239      0.034    7.026    0.000
#>   BEH ~         
#>     PBC             0.286      0.026   10.800    0.000
#>     INT             0.219      0.032    6.786    0.000
#> 
#> Covariances:
#>                  Estimate  Std.Error  z.value  P(>|z|)
#>   ATT ~~        
#>     SN              0.623      0.016   37.813    0.000
#>     PBC             0.690      0.011   60.838    0.000
#>   SN ~~         
#>     PBC             0.690      0.014   49.581    0.000
#> 
#> Variances:
#>                  Estimate  Std.Error  z.value  P(>|z|)
#>     ATT             1.000                             
#>     SN              1.000                             
#>     PBC             1.000                             
#>    .INT             0.632      0.022   28.776    0.000
#>    .BEH             0.802      0.017   45.905    0.000
#>    .att1            0.138      0.031    4.457    0.000
#>    .att2            0.223      0.035    6.309    0.000
#>    .att3            0.175      0.034    5.178    0.000
#>    .att4            0.257      0.036    7.106    0.000
#>    .att5            0.133      0.039    3.437    0.001
#>    .sn1             0.195      0.028    6.901    0.000
#>    .sn2             0.114      0.027    4.268    0.000
#>    .pbc1            0.137      0.025    5.590    0.000
#>    .pbc2            0.135      0.026    5.108    0.000
#>    .pbc3            0.219      0.026    8.314    0.000
#>    .int1            0.185      0.023    8.150    0.000
#>    .int2            0.179      0.022    8.240    0.000
#>    .int3            0.246      0.027    9.115    0.000
#>    .b1              0.219      0.038    5.735    0.000
#>    .b2              0.227      0.036    6.220    0.000