In public administration research in Korea, structural equation modeling (SEM) has become one of the most powerful quantitative techniques to examine structural relationships among constructs. However, a critical assessment of the technique has not be...
In public administration research in Korea, structural equation modeling (SEM) has become one of the most powerful quantitative techniques to examine structural relationships among constructs. However, a critical assessment of the technique has not been made up to the present regarding how SEM is used in each research area, how methodological issues are addressed, and how SEMis reported in the article. To fill this gap, this study compared the use of SEM in 241 public administration articles in six major journals from 1990 to 2014. Drawing on the results, this study makes important suggestions for the proper use of SEM in public administration.