Abstract
Orientation: Understanding the relationship between a project sponsor’s servant leadership traits and employee commitment, trust and innovative behaviour.Research purpose: This study aimed to understand the relationship, if any, between a project sponsor’s servant leadership traits of altruistic calling, emotional healing, wisdom, persuasive mapping and organisational stewardship and a project team’s empowerment, commitment, trust and innovative behaviour.Motivation of the study: Most project leadership studies focus on understanding the role and power position of the project manager, with very little research being dedicated to understanding the effect the leadership style has on the project team and project success.Research approach: A survey was conducted amongst a non-probability sample of 48 project team members from amongst a population of 257, comprising project managers, business analysts and IT staff of a medium sized fleet management organisation that is in the process of implementing an entirely new enterprise resource planning system.Main findings: Through inferential statistical analysis, using structural equation modelling and path analysis, it was determined that persuasive mapping has the strongest impact on employee innovative behaviour, followed by employee commitment and trust via the mediator of employee perceived empowerment. Wisdom and organisational stewardship had a negative impact on employee perceived empowerment.Practical/managerial implications: Project sponsors need to exhibit persuasive mapping, altruistic calling and emotional healing traits due to the significant influence that these have on employee innovative behaviour, commitment and trust, albeit through their perceived empowerment.Contribution/value-add: This study contributes to knowledge of leadership, more especially servant leadership and its significance in project management, which knowledge may contribute to project success
Highlights
Leadership has remained a fascination through the ages, possibly because of its mysterious nature and because it touches everyone’s lives (Yukl, 2013, p. 17)
Studies have focused on the servant leader in a general organisational environment, very little attention has been given to understanding the servant leader in a project environment, especially the role of a project sponsor
The results show that persuasive mapping has the strongest impact on employee innovative behaviour, followed by employee commitment and lastly, employee trust via employee perceived empowerment
Summary
Leadership has remained a fascination through the ages, possibly because of its mysterious nature and because it touches everyone’s lives (Yukl, 2013, p. 17). 128), with very little research being dedicated to understanding the effect of the leadership style on the project team. 3) it is only in the last 5 years, that it has been possible to measure the servant leadership dimensions within a leader Studies have focused on the servant leader in a general organisational environment, very little attention has been given to understanding the servant leader in a project environment, especially the role of a project sponsor. Little or no attention has been given to understanding the optimal leadership profile of a project sponsor and even less to understanding the influence that the project sponsor’s leadership style has on the individual outcomes within a project team
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