Structural equation modeling for simulation metamodeling

The analysis of the behavior of simulation models and the subsequent communication of their results are critical but often neglected activities in simulation modeling. To overcome this issue, this paper proposes an integrated metamodeling approach based on structural equation modeling using the partial least squares algorithm. The suggested method integrates both a priori information from the conceptual model and the simulation data output. Based on this, we estimate and evaluate the core relationships and their predictive capabilities. The resulting structural equation metamodel exposes structures in the behavior of simulation models and allows for their better communication. The link to theory via the conceptual model considerably increases understanding compared with other metamodeling approaches.