Average variance extracted (AVE)
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Convergent validity: the average share of its indicators' variance that a construct explains (0.5 or more is the usual bar).
LaTeX: AVE = \frac{\sum_{i=1}^{k} \lambda_i^2}{k}
Variables and notation#
lambda_i are standardized loadings and k the indicator count; AVE is average squared loading in this standardized, unit-variance indicator form.
Worked example#
For loadings (0.8,0.6), AVE=(0.64+0.36)/2=0.5.
Related methods and when to use them#
AVE describes variance captured by a construct; composite reliability also reflects combining indicators. The shortcut assumes standardized indicators and the appropriate measurement model; correlated errors require care.
Sources and further reading#
Key findings#
- Average variance extracted (AVE) was mentioned in 31 papers in the last 30 days (2026-10-07 to 2026-11-05), ranking #49 of the 248 equations and models mentioned.
- By journal category: Management (11), Marketing (5), Information Systems (4), Finance (2), Tourism and Hospitality (2), Operations Research (2), Health Economics and Policy (2), Economics (1), Higher Education and Research (1) and AI (1).
- Most of them appeared in Future Business Journal (5), Corporate Reputation Review (2) and Health and Quality of Life Outcomes (2).
- Often mentioned together with Structural equation modeling (SEM) (28), Composite reliability (28) and Cronbach's alpha (25).
- Datasets named in the same papers: Facebook (4), LinkedIn (3) and Amazon Mechanical Turk (3).
- From Nov 2023 to Oct 2026, 1,306 archived papers mentioned Average variance extracted (AVE) in their title, abstract, keywords or full text, most of them in Jul 2026 (75).
- From 2017 to 2026 (so far), Average variance extracted (AVE) was mentioned in 1,339 papers in the tracked journals, most of them in management (661), higher education and research (134) and marketing (131).
- 386 of them were published in 2025, against 1 in 2017.
- Since 2023, the institutions with the most of these papers were University of Birmingham (29), University of Vaasa (27) and University of Johannesburg (25).
- The journals publishing most of them were Future Business Journal (151), Journal of Innovation & Knowledge (75) and Journal of Business Research (61).
- The most-cited of them is “CB-SEM vs PLS-SEM methods for research in social sciences and technology forecasting” (Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2021), with 2,497 citations.
Mentions over 36 months#
| Trend | Nov 23–Oct 24 | Nov 24–Oct 25 | Nov 25–Oct 26 | 36 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 392 | 413 | 501 | 1,306 |
Papers per year#
20172026 (so far)
| Category | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 (so far) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Management | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 47 | 180 | 207 | 226 |
| Higher Education and Research | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 41 | 44 | 42 |
| Marketing | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 45 | 31 | 47 |
| Information Systems | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 32 | 26 | 47 |
| Tourism and Hospitality | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 22 | 35 |
| Operations Research | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 21 | 16 | 17 |
| Economics | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 12 | 11 | 17 |
| Health Economics and Policy | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 6 |
| Finance | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 11 |
| Accounting | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 9 |
| Statistics | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 10 |
| AI | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| All categories | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 101 | 370 | 386 | 471 |
Where the papers come from#
| # | Journal | Papers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Future Business Journal | 151 |
| 2 | Journal of Innovation & Knowledge | 75 |
| 3 | Journal of Business Research | 61 |
| 4 | Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship | 56 |
| 5 | Education and Information Technologies | 52 |
| 6 | International Journal of Hospitality Management | 40 |
| 7 | Review of Managerial Science | 32 |
| 8 | Technological Forecasting and Social Change | 30 |
| 9 | International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal | 30 |
| 10 | Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services | 29 |
| # | Institution | Papers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Birmingham | 29 |
| 2 | University of Vaasa | 27 |
| 3 | University of Johannesburg | 25 |
| 4 | Universitat de València | 20 |
| 5 | University of Aberdeen | 16 |
| 6 | Lancaster University | 15 |
| 7 | Nottingham Trent University | 15 |
| 8 | Sunway University | 15 |
| 9 | University of Reading | 15 |
| 10 | Swinburne University of Technology | 14 |
| # | Country | Papers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | United Kingdom | 300 |
| 2 | Spain | 155 |
| 3 | China | 144 |
| 4 | United States | 133 |
| 5 | Australia | 116 |
| 6 | Germany | 89 |
| 7 | India | 80 |
| 8 | Italy | 76 |
| 9 | Malaysia | 71 |
| 10 | Finland | 68 |
| # | Keyword | Papers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | moderating effect | 87 |
| 2 | mediating effect | 86 |
| 3 | small and medium-sized enterprises | 80 |
| 4 | dynamic capabilities | 72 |
| 5 | perceived usefulness | 61 |
| 6 | technology acceptance | 60 |
| 7 | technology adoption | 59 |
| 8 | behavioral intention | 56 |
| 9 | digital transformation | 56 |
| 10 | university students | 54 |
Most-cited papers#
Cite this page
Scholar4AI. (2026). Average variance extracted (AVE). Journal and Conference Research Rankings. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://scholar4ai.com/equations/average-variance-extracted-ave
@misc{scholar4ai-equations-average-variance-extracted-ave,
author = {{Scholar4AI}},
title = {Average variance extracted (AVE)},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://scholar4ai.com/equations/average-variance-extracted-ave}},
urldate = {2026-11-05},
note = {Journal and Conference Research Rankings; data from OpenAlex (CC0); licensed CC BY-NC 4.0}
}