Roles of Shared Leadership, Autonomy, and Knowledge Sharing in Construction Project Success

Abstract

Drawing upon self-determination theory, this study discusses in depth the role of team members’ autonomy and knowledge sharing in construction projects. The main purpose of the study is to investigate the rarely discussed role of shared leadership in the successful completion of these types of projects. The data were collected from 216 site engineers working in Tier 3 construction companies on two time points. PROCESS Macro was used to test the hypothesized framework. The results showed that shared leadership plays a direct, significant role in the successful delivery of projects and, through members’ autonomy, meets individual psychological needs. Slope analysis revealed that knowledge sharing moderates the relationship between shared leadership and autonomy. The present study’s framework deepens the understanding of construction projects with self-determination theory that shared leadership fulfills workers’ psychological needs (competence, relatedness, and autonomy) and leads project deliverables. With a multifaceted project approach, this study highlighted that shared leadership is not limited to one dimension of project success but positively impacts project cost, client use, effectiveness, satisfaction, performance, and time management.