Business Commons^™

A Critique Of The Marker Variable Technique: The Effect Of Alternative Marker Variable Criteria, Rajeev Sharma, Philip Yetton, Jeff Crawford

Associate Professor Rajeev Sharma

The marker variable technique offers a practical and easy method to address the validity threat on account of common method variance to the findings of individual studies. However, the validity of the marker variable technique has not been established. This paper examines the validity threat to the marker variable technique arising from multiple criteria for the selection of the marker variable proposed in the literature. Our findings show that the conclusions that can be drawn under different criteria are significantly and substantially different, raising doubts about the validity of the marker variable technique. Proposals for developing theoretically grounded criteria for …