What Makes a Great Textbook? Lessons Learned from Joe Hair

What does it take to obtain 200,000 citations or more in the wider field of business administration? A Nobel Prize (or two) wouldn’t be amiss. Lacking such kudos, you need to be Joseph F. Hair, the author of the book on Multivariate Data Analysis, which has garnered 100,000+ citations since its publication in 1979 (Google Scholar, July 2018). A Primer on Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) is, despite its unpromising title, Joe’s second best-cited book, focusing on a specific multivariate analysis method. I have the pleasure and honor of being a coauthor of this book, and, given its success, a many potential authors of best-selling textbooks are no doubt keen on knowing what insights I gained while working with Joe. I can’t promise them an instant bestseller, but I can summarize the key lessons learned from Joe about what makes a great textbook.