Transformational leadership and project team members’ silence: the mediating role of feeling trusted

Abstract

Purpose Silencing behavior among project team members (PTM) poses a potential threat to project results. Hence, breaking silence in projects is critical to motivate team members and beneficial for project outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between transformational leadership (TL) of project manager (PM) and silence behavior of PTMs. It proposes a mediating role of feeling trusted (FT) to fill this gap by conducting an empirical research. Design/methodology/approach A theoretical model was developed and a series of hypotheses were proposed based on existing literature. Then, regression analysis was conducted on a sample of 219 team members of a diverse set of projects in China. Findings The paper empirically shows that TL of PM is significantly negatively related to team members’ defensive and prosocial silence (PS), but not with their acquiescence silence. In addition, the study also discovered that team members’ FT mediates the effects of TL on team members’ defensive and PS. Research limitations/implications This study contributed to the project management literature by showing that feeling trusted link the relationship between TL of PM and PTMs’ silence. The studies’ findings also contribute to the silence theory in project context through discussions of the rationale behind the main effects. Practical implication is provided for PMs that making the most of TL can reduce the silence of PTM, through building trusted feelings. The limitation to this study is the research setting regarding culture-related issues that focused only on projects in China. Originality/value This research is one of the early studies that address the issue of silence behavior in project context, which is a contribution to the coordination and communication in project management.

Paradigm of new service development projects (NSDPs): “One Basket Fits all”

“…The present research study finds that project team efficiency and CFI ability are regulated by the KSB, AL and FC, which strengthens the findings of Floris and Cuganesan (2019); Zhu et al (2019); Donnelly (2019); Ajmal and Koskinen (2008) and Maitlo et al (2019). A higher level of KSB amongst the team members and higher IPTE lead to a greater chance of success of NSDP, while no significant difference was observed at a lower effect level of KSB in the relationship between IPTE and NSDP.…”

“…Hence, when the degree of AL for NSDP projects is high, CFI in new service development strengthens the capability of service firms, thereby improving their overall project performance and further reducing costs. In other words, AL in the context of new service development strengthens the positive impact of CFI on NSDPs' performance (Floris and Cuganesan, 2019;Zhu et al, 2019;Swain et al, 2018).…”

“…In considering the relevance of leadership, a number of researchers explain its significance, while others have given considerable attention to AL style (Sok et al, 2018;Lloyd-Walker and Walker, 2011;Yang et al, 2011). There has been little empirical research on the moderating role of AL on the relationship between CFI and the success of NSDP (Zhu et al, 2019;Khan et al, 2014). The research study that has already been done indicates quite strongly that AL operates indirectly as an enabler of the project process by optimizing CFI (Oh et al, 2019;Toor et al, 2007).…”

Influence of sponsor's management style in project prioritization

“…It is important to point out that the concept of management is associated with a sponsor's position since this person performs tasks and has certain responsibilities. Importantly, the sponsor, as well as the manager, actively influence the success of the company through project development (Kloppenborg et al, 2014;Zhu, Wang, Yu, Müller & Sun, 2019).…”

Carrot or stick? The impact of paternalistic leadership on the behavioral integration of top management teams in megaprojects

“…It is challenging for a top leader to manage a team via formal measures, such as contractual or governmental governance (Too and Weaver, 2014). Therefore, leaders' sincere holistic care and "leading by example" may be an effective supplement to their governance methods (Wang et al, 2005;Zhu et al, 2019). All the aforementioned studies point toward the necessity of specific research on the impacts of paternalistic leadership within megaproject TMT settings.…”