However, the commercial license for SmartPLS Professional is often prohibitively expensive for students (approximately $1,500–$3,000 annually). In response, SmartPLS GmbH offers a free . While accessible, the student version imposes technical restrictions that students and supervisors must understand before adopting it for thesis or dissertation work.
PLS-SEM, SmartPLS, Student Version, Methodology, Research Limitations, Software Tutorial 1. Introduction Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is a multivariate statistical technique used to analyze structural relationships between measured variables and latent constructs (Hair et al., 2019). Among SEM approaches, Partial Least Squares (PLS) is preferred for exploratory research, complex models, and non-normal data (Ringle et al., 2015). SmartPLS has emerged as the most user-friendly graphical interface for PLS-SEM.
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