Olasunkanmi, F. F. O. (2026) Structural equation modelling for the impacts of transactional leadership styles on project performance. Construction Economics and Building, 26(2), ISSN 2204-9029
Abstract
Construction firms are intensifying efforts to strengthen the construction process through the engagement of professionals with sound management and leadership acumen against only technical ability. This study, therefore, determines how the transactional style of leadership impacts project outcomes (successful delivery or otherwise) in the Nigerian construction sector. A quantitative survey method, 5-point Likert ordinal-scale cross-sectional questionnaires, was used to elicit the respondents' response. Valid feedback from 975 participants out of 1,233 administered on project managers, project team members (only construction professionals), and firms' supervisors with a response rate of 79.8% was initially analysed descriptively, then inferentially using the structural equation modelling (SEM) approach. Results show a negative direct effect of passive management by exception of transactional style on deliveries of Nigerian projects. SEM output with a squared multiple correlation of 0.219 indicates that passive factors of transactional style accounted for 21.9% of the variance in success indices of projects. The standard regression weight of −0.47 implies that passive management factors of transactional style reduce project performance by 47%. The study establishes that passive factors of transactional style exert direct negative effects on project performance in Nigeria. The survey's peculiarity enables the project managers to filter through and improve upon the advantageous aspect of transactional leadership already in use towards successful project outcomes. Engaging a SEM approach to identify the transactional variables that exert negative effects on project outcomes takes the lead in the leadership aspect of management discourse as previous researchers only mentioned the effect on worker's performance, thus enriching literature on project management in Nigeria and globally.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | leadership style; project performance; structural equation modelling; transactional |
| Index terms: | construction firm, construction professional, structural equation modelling, project management, supervisor, direct effect, project team, variance, leadership style, construction process, project performance, Nigeria, construction sector, project outcome, project manager, survey, questionnaire |
| Subjects: | industry analysis, factor and component analysis, project delivery, statistical analysis, profession, measurement and scaling, Geography, leadership, practitioner, project completion, professional development, organization, building construction, data collection methods, project management theory and practice |
| Topics: | Information Management, Project Management, Organizational Design, Site Management, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Roles and Professions, Business Strategy |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
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