Covariance-Based Structural Equation Modeling in Small-Sample Settings with p>n

Inference for factor models is often hampered by the lack of tractable and accurate variance estimates, which can materially distort downstream analyses. In practice, uncertainty in the residual covariance matrix is frequently either ignored or addressed through computationally intensive resampling methods that tend to be unstable. This paper develops a unified analytical framework for inference in exploratory factor analysis under several widely used extraction rules, including least-squares, principal-factor, iterative principal-component, alpha, and image factoring. By treating these estimators as implicitly defined functions of the sample covariance matrix, we derive closed-form Jacobians that translate perturbations in the covariance matrix into changes in the resulting factor solutions. Combined with the delta method and consistent estimators of the sample covariance matrix, the proposed approach yields standard errors that are straightforward to compute and remain valid under non-Gaussianity, heteroskedasticity, and serial or cross-sectional dependence. Simulation evidence confirms that the analytical standard errors accurately capture finite-sample variability while avoiding both the instability of bootstrap procedures and the restrictive assumptions underlying Fisher information-based inference. An application to a factor-augmented structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) model further demonstrates how accounting for this source of uncertainty can substantially affect impulse-response inference. Taken together, the results provide a practical and general tool for propagating estimation uncertainty in settings where factor extraction serves as an intermediate step.

Structural equation modelling (SEM) is widely used in survey-based business and information systems research to assess latent constructs and theory-driven structural relationships. However, SEM path significance is obtained within a particular model specification and may not show whether findings remain stable under alternative estimation frameworks. This study develops and demonstrates a staged robustness analysis framework that connects SEM, ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, and Double Machine Learning (DML). SEM is first used to refine the measurement structure and estimate the robustness-baseline SEM model, in which the full theory-specified structural path system is retained for downstream robustness analysis before final structural path evaluation. OLS regression is then applied to SEM-derived construct scores as a transparent regression benchmark. Finally, DML-style residualisation is used to examine whether each tested focal relationship remains stable after flexible machine-learning-based adjustment for observed controls. Learner-sensitivity checks compare Random Forest, Gradient Boosting, and Support Vector Machine learners, and selected reverse-direction diagnostics are used to examine directional sensitivity. The framework is demonstrated using a FinTech Digital Customer Intimacy survey model. The findings identify which relationships are stable across SEM, OLS, and DML-style checks, and which require more cautious interpretation. A reproducible Google Colab workbook and generated result files are publicly available, providing a reusable template that researchers and students can adapt to other survey-based latent-construct studies. The paper contributes a practical robustness workflow and interpretation guide for survey-based researchers seeking to complement SEM with conventional and machine-learning-based robustness checks.

Estimating contemporaneous bidirectional interactions from observational data is difficult because each outcome is endogenous to the other, while flexible regressions may capture only reduced-form dependence. This paper proposes SEM-DNN, a heteroscedastic neural simultaneous-equation estimator that learns reciprocal structural interactions without external instruments. Identification exploits conditional covariance diagonalization: when structural shocks have zero conditional means, are conditionally uncorrelated given predetermined covariates, and exhibit nonproportional conditional variances, only the true interaction coefficients diagonalize the conditional residual covariance across the feature space. The method jointly approximates nonlinear structural mean functions and feature-dependent variances using a diagonal Gaussian quasi-likelihood that incorporates the simultaneous-system Jacobian. We establish unique identification and positive-definite local curvature of the profiled population criterion and show that, under neural-profile compatibility conditions, the implemented neural criterion inherits this curvature despite nonunique network parameterizations. The coefficients admit a causal interpretation when the structural equations represent autonomous mechanisms that remain invariant under the relevant interventions. Monte Carlo experiments with nonlinear, high-dimensional nuisance functions and non-Gaussian shocks show that SEM-DNN recovers structural effects more reliably than parametric, kernel-based, and separate-equation neural alternatives as information increases, although at greater computational cost. An application to ready-to-eat cereal scanner data illustrates how the method can study contemporaneous price-sales feedback and assess identification strength, residual diagonalization, variance calibration, and optimization sensitivity.