Review and Recommendations for Integrating Mediation and Moderation

TLDR

Models that combine mediation and moderation are increasingly used in organizational science, yet their empirical testing and theoretical justification remain poorly understood and often misapplied. This article aims to provide a checklist of recommendations for presenting, justifying, and testing integrated mediation–moderation models. The authors develop the checklist by reviewing empirical papers from top‑tier journals and comparing current practices to the proposed guidelines.

Abstract

Usage of models integrating mediation and moderation is on the rise in the organizational sciences. While moderation and mediation are fairly well understood by themselves, additional complexities emerge when combining them. Some guidance exists regarding the empirical testing of such models, but this guidance is widely misunderstood. Furthermore, very little guidance exists regarding the theoretical justification of such models. This article offers a checklist of recommendations for the presentation, justification, and testing of models integrating mediation and moderation and compares these to what is actually being done via a review of empirical papers in top-tier journals.