Abstract
With the increasing importance of leadership in project-based organizations, innovation is essential for the sustainable development of construction projects. Since few studies have explored the relationship between leadership and innovation in construction projects, this study fills this research gap and makes a significant theoretical contribution to the existing body of literature. Based on a knowledge-rated and resource-based view, this study aims to investigate various effects of different types of leadership on innovation performance in a construction project-based organization. Therefore, a theoretical model was constructed to explore the mediation mechanism and boundary condition of different types of leadership to improve innovation. The theoretical model was validated with empirical data covering project managers and engineers from the project-based organization in China via regression analysis and path analysis. The results show that transformational leadership and transactional leadership have some positively significant effects on knowledge sharing and innovation performance. Meanwhile, knowledge sharing partially mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and/or transactional leadership and innovation performance. Additionally, by considering different levels of social capital, transformational leadership is likely to have a strong positive impact on innovation performance through knowledge sharing. Our findings ensure a better understanding of the role of leadership, knowledge management, and social capital in the innovation process of construction projects. Therefore, project managers should promote a higher stimulation of a leadership behavior, encouraging knowledge management, and establishing the social capital, thus improving the innovation performance in the project-based organizations in construction projects.
Highlights
With the rapid development of the construction technology, the construction industry has become more knowledge-intensive, it became imperative to carry on innovation by the sustainability trends [1]
H2 The mediating effect of knowledge sharing between two leadership styles on project-based organizational innovation performance H2a TLa→KS→OIP H2b TLb→KS→OIP
Note: TLa, transformational leadership; TLb, transactional leadership; KS, knowledge sharing; SC, social capital; OIP, project-based organizational innovation performance; *** p < 0.001, ** p < 0.01; and 95% CI means 95% confidence interval
Summary
With the rapid development of the construction technology, the construction industry has become more knowledge-intensive, it became imperative to carry on innovation by the sustainability trends [1]. The innovation level in the construction industry attracts both criticism [2] as well as praise [3]. Faced with a different complexity of the various construction projects and considering sustainability demand, the construction project-based organization would start addressing the challenge of sharing knowledge and coordinating the relationship to carry out innovation [7]. The project-based character of construction activities that are practiced due to a strong price orientation, are by several scholars seen as for a lack of knowledge transfer and innovation [8]. How to drive innovation in a construction project-based organization has become an emerging topic and pressing issue
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
