Nawaz, A; Jiang, W and Akhtar, S (2025) Exploring the role of servant leadership, teamwork, and organizational learning in the success of construction projects: A focus on project nature as a moderator. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 151(10): 04025154, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
This study aims at verifying the extensive applicability of servant leadership in construction project success while considering teamwork and organizational learning as mediators, and project nature as a moderator. It follows a cross-sectional approach collecting data through survey from 66 projects of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative. The results verify that project nature and learning practices of an organization strongly affect the way servant leadership influences the construction projects' outcomes. All the hypotheses are supported by the results of the study, stressing that leadership styles should be oriented to service, teamwork, and learning for creating a company culture that would produce quality project results, especially for large-scale and diverse projects like the CPEC. This paper contributes to the literature about construction engineering and management (CEM) through empirical validation of the links among servant leadership, teamwork, organizational learning, and project success within the framework of Shenhar and Dvir's diamond model. It not only provides an innovative theoretical perspective on adaptive leadership strategies under moderation of project nature, but it also offers actionable insights to improve the success of complex, and large-scale construction projects.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | China-Pakistan economic corridor; organizational learning; project nature; project success; servant leadership; teamwork |
| Index terms: | China, teamwork, construction project, project success, Pakistan, mediator, validation, strategy, organizational learning, construction engineering, leadership style, survey, servant leadership |
| Subjects: | Geography, management, production management, project management theory and practice, data collection methods, dispute resolution, leadership, professional development, engineering methods |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Business Strategy, Legal Issues, Organizational Design, Engineering Principles, Information Management, Geographical Context, Human Resources, Project Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here