A Practical Guide to Conditional Mediation Analysis with GSCA: Method, Simulation, and Software

Conditional mediation (CoMe) analysis integrates mediation and moderation to examine how an indirect effect transmitted through a mediator varies across levels of a moderator. In this tutorial, we show how to conduct CoMe analysis in generalized structured component analysis (GSCA), a component-based structural equation modeling approach. We first outline the technical foundations of GSCA-based CoMe analysis and then report a simulation study evaluating its performance relative to partial least squares path modeling, another component-based approach. We also present an empirical illustration that provides step-by-step guidance for implementing GSCA-based CoMe analysis using GSCA Pro, a free, user-friendly software package.