Chapter 16: Multilevel Mediation Analysis

Researchers are often interested in understanding the underlying process by which causal effects operate. For example, rather than just identifying whether participation in an employee training program leads to improved job performance, interest may be in why or how the training program is effective. Perhaps the training program leads to higher levels of employee engagement, which then results in improved performance, or maybe the training targets technological improvements that enable the employees to work more efficiently. Identification of such mechanisms can have important implications for the development and testing of theory as well as provide the employer a better understanding of which aspects of the training are effective.