Testing a model of pull production: a paradigm for manufacturing research using structural equation modeling
提出一个包含验证性因子分析的测量范式，用于评估制造研究中不可观测变量的单维度性、收敛效度等属性，并检验拉动生产与前置因素（改进设置、预防性维护）及结果（交付可靠性）的结构模型。
Abstract The measurement of unobservable (latent) variables has been a recent phenomenon in the manufacturing research area. Most available empirical research in manufacturing has been exploratory in nature and has borrowed its methods extensively from other fields such as psychology, sociology, and marketing. Traditional exploratory techniques have been used to provide preliminary scales and assess measurement properties. Manufacturing researchers have, however, overlooked the assessment of unidimensionality, an essential measurement property and a basic assumption of measurement theory. An explicit evaluation of unidimensionality can be accomplished with a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of individual measures as specified by a multiple‐indicator measurement model. A paradigm for scale evaluation incorporating CFA for the assessment of unidimensionality is outlined here along with methodology to assess other measurement properties such as convergent validity, discriminant validity, composite reliability, and average variance extracted. A measurement model is tested first followed by a structural model of interest. The hypothesized structural model relates pull production with two of its antecedents, setup improvement and preventive maintenance practices. It further relates pull production to one of its consequences, delivery dependability. Responses from 244 firms are used to test the measurement and structural model.