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Experimental Approaches for Testing Mediation Effects Models: A Review, Assessment, and Recommended Practices
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Experimental Approaches for Testing Mediation Effects Models: A Review, Assessment, and Recommended Practices

Philip M. Podsakoff, Nathan P. Podsakoff and Yiduo Shao
Journal of business and psychology, Vol.41(1), pp.1-26
02/2026
DOI: 10.1007/s10869-025-10089-6

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Abstract

The amount of attention paid to mediating mechanisms in the fields of applied psychology and management has increased substantially in the past few decades. Much of this attention has focused on identifying and refining statistical techniques for testing mediation effects models or for the estimation of indirect effects and their confidence intervals. However, several scholars have argued that because mediation is about identifying theoretical (causal) mechanisms transmitting the effects of independent variables on dependent variables, researchers should focus more on study designs that improve the ability to make strong causal inferences and reduce the possibility that confounding variables account for the observed mediating effects. This paper provides a review of management and applied psychology articles reporting three experimental approaches to testing mediation: measurement-of-mediation (MOM), experimental-causal-chain (ECC), and moderation-of-process (MOP). Our review of 160 articles reporting 310 distinct studies indicates that there is a substantial amount of variance in the application of these techniques, and that some of the research designs being implemented limit appropriate causal inferences. We conclude with implications and recommendations for researchers.
 Mediation Mediation effects models Causal inferences Measurement-of-mediation Experimental-causal-chain Moderation-of-process

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