Impact of Leadership on Project Success in software and information technology industry of Pakistan

Abstract

Pakistan is a developing country, which is witnessing growth in its IT sector and there is huge potential in this industry. But there are certain problems related to the inefficient utilization of the human resource in this sector which has resulted in high project failure rates. This study was conducted on the premise that appropriateness of leadership style could address this issue and improve project success in IT industry of the country. Further, there is also indication that there is lack of theoretical and empirical development on leadership in the field of project management. This study thus, assessed the impact of leadership style on the project success in IT industry of Pakistan, whereby team readiness was taken as moderating variable. Using survey methodology, data was collected from 252 respondents and analysis of the data revealed interesting indications. It was found that transformational leadership, transactional leadership and laissez-faire leadership yielded a positive impact on the project success. Further, team readiness was found to have moderated the impact of leadership on the project success. Most important leadership style in IT industry remained transactional leadership in context of team readiness, while transformational leadership become negative after inclusion of the team readiness and laissez-faire leadership became insignificant. These findings are sector specific and are related to the specific dynamics of IT industry of Pakistan, which is characterized by human resource exploitation, high stress, excessive demand for innovation and semi-skilled nature of the human resource.