Project Success and Transformational Leadership: Evaluating the Mediating Impact of Subordinates' Innovative Work Behaviour and Knowledge Sharing Behaviour

Abstract

For the past twenty years, researchers have concentrated on project success. Concern over the elements that affect project success is on the rise. The study's specific goal was to ascertain how innovative work behaviours and knowledge-sharing behaviours of subordinates played a mediating role in the relationship between transformational leadership and project success. A post-positivist strategy is used in this cross-sectional analysis of theoretical models. Between January and June 2022, information was gathered through purposeful sampling from 60 small and medium-sized firms. The firms that were contacted range widely in size, industry, and speciality. This study distributed 550 questionnaires comprised of 4 scales to 120 organizations; 375 were returned, out of which 350 were valid. The findings demonstrate that transformative leadership is significantly associated with project success. In addition, knowledge sharing and innovative subordinate work behaviour considerably mediate this relationship. This study stressed that transformational leaders may encourage their people by maintaining team communication and cohesion regardless of the circumstances. In addition, education and training in soft skills enhance subordinates' knowledge sharing and innovative work behaviour, and their combination with transformational leadership is a more effective predictor of project success. Future research can use longitudinal analysis by examining other potential variables in different economies and communities. Through the lens of social exchange theory, the findings of this study make a novel addition by elucidating the limited understanding of the effect of transformational leadership on project success as mediated by knowledge sharing and innovative work behaviour.