Dear all,

• I have a doubt. I am working on a value co-creation (VCC) concept where I am planning to to use a famous scale of VCC, i.e., Yi and Gong's (2013). This is a second-order construct where value co-creation is measured by participation behavior and citizenship behavior. Both these dimensions again have four dimensions inside each (which means a total of 8 dimensions).
• Now, for my research, I found only a few dimensions relevant (2 from participation behavior and 2 from citizenship behavior). As per previous research, I found that many authors have used selective dimensions of VCC and formed their hypotheses. However, they form their hypothesis on individual dimensions instead of higher order.
• My question is, can I form a hypothesis on a higher order dimension despite removing some dimensions? For your ease, I am pasting the original scale, the previous author's model, and my planned model to brief you the way I want my hypothesis. Also, note that I have theoretical support for what I am proposing with selective dimensions but am just concerned with technical possibilities. I assume that if I properly check the reliability of the scale, it should not be an issue.