PurposeIn times of crisis and volatility, especially in the Covid-19 scenario, project organisations are facing multifaceted threats. Project organisations are inclining towards flatter organisational structures. Employees are demanding more decision-making authority due to the changing working scenario. Despite the advancement in project management, a hard skill side, project organisations are still struggling to achieve successful projects. The project manager's leadership, employee self-leadership and soft skills are presented as the solution to these aggravated problems. This article attempts to determine whether a transformational leadership style can influence project success, directly and indirectly through employee self-leadership.Design/methodology/approachThe author raises the hypothesis, supported by social cognitive theory, that transformational leadership impacts project success directly and indirectly through self-leadership. Data were collected from 289 project team members in the IT sector, and the proposed relationships were assessed through Partial least squares structural equation modelling PLS-SEM.FindingsResults show that a project manager's transformational leadership behaviour and employee self-leadership positively impact project success. Additionally, self-leadership mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and project success. Lastly, empowerment demonstrated significant moderation for self-leadership and project success, and for transformational leadership and project success.Research limitations/implicationsIn this study, one obvious methodological limitation is a cross-sectional design. Future research can be performed while adopting a longitudinal research design. Another conceptual limitation of the model is that the authors did not include all transformational leadership dimensions, which can be considered for future studies while replicating this research model. Another future front can be by examining other leadership styles. Another research limitation may be the single source data collection, a future study may be conducted by several sources for data collection to adequately test both of the leadership styles at different hierarchies and for project success.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the literature by finding that, in crises, a project manager's transformational leadership style enhances project success. In practice, project managers are needed to adopt transformational behaviour and encourage employee self-leadership and empowerment.

Leadership is considered to be a viable solution to avoid persistent project failures in an increasingly volatile and uncertain competitive business environment; however, practitioners and researchers have yet to reach a consensus on the best leadership style to prevent project failure. Although past studies have examined different leadership models in the project environment, they have overlooked the importance of emerging leadership styles in managing new business realities. This article thus attempts to determine whether two leadership styles, i.e., contingent reward and empowering, directly and indirectly achieve project success. Data was collected from 289 project team members in the IT sector and analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The results demonstrate the positive impact of empowering leadership on employee self-leadership, which leads to project success. Further, employee self-leadership positively mediates the link between empowering leadership and project success, while goal clarity moderates the influence of self-leadership on project success. However, contingent reward leadership neither directly nor indirectly (through self-leadership) showed any significant relationship with project success.

Goal: The minimal inter-firm resource sharing has raised problems for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). There has been little focus on a thorough understanding of supply chain collaboration in the context of SMEs in Pakistan. This research looks into the antecedent impact of governance mechanisms and collaborative culture on supply chain collaboration (SCC), as well as the direct influence of supply chain collaboration on SMEs' performance in developing countries. Design/Methodology/Approach: The data was collected using a closed-ended questionnaire from randomly selected respondents from Pakistani SMEs. SMART PLS 3.0 software is utilized for statistical analysis. Results: The findings showed a significant positive link between SCC and the performance of small businesses. Moderation was investigated between the variables. This means that supply chain technology Implementation (as moderator) is a process that provides SMEs to improve collaboration between partners through information and advanced manufacturing technology and provide suitable solutions to achieve performance. Limitations of the investigation: It is a cross sectional study and front line managers are eliminated from the study, however they are also the key respondents of supply chain (SC) implementation. Implications: The implications of this research for SC managers and researchers involved in supply chain collaboration adoption in SMEs are important. Originality/ Value: Findings supported the concept that if the organization has a supportive culture towards supply chain collaboration adoption then SMEs will improve their performance.