Exploring the critical nexus between authoritarian leadership, project team member's silence and multi-dimensional success in a state-owned mega construction project

Abstract

State-owned mega construction projects are greatly driven by the top-down authoritarian leadership that ironically restricts two-way communication and free flow of ideas. Prominent studies have highlighted various critical success factors of project success; however, the effects of authoritarian leadership and project team member's silence have been completely overlooked, especially in mega construction projects. The present study makes a pioneering effort to address this critical research gap and investigate the effects of authoritarian leadership and project team member's silence on the multi-dimensional success (including project management success, project ownership success and project investment success) in a mega construction project. Drawing on data from 357 project professionals directly associated with the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and covariance based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) with Mplus, the findings provide new empirical evidence that authoritarian leadership has a significant negative influence on the multi-dimensional success in the CPEC mega construction project. The findings also establish that project team member's silence negatively mediates the relationship between authoritarian leadership and the multi-dimensional mega construction project success. The study implications offer new strategic insights for managing mega construction projects, especially in transition economies that still have deep roots of authoritarian cultures.