Impact of Empowering Leadership on Project Success: Mediating Effect of Knowledge Acquisition and Knowledge Sharing in Software Industry of Pakistan

Abstract

Project success is a vital concept in software industry for competitive advantage, continued existence and economic development in present dynamic business settings. Employees must have knowledge sharing among themselves and employees must learn latest knowledge while solving software project problems. The direct relation of empowering leadership and project success and the mediating role of knowledge acquisition and knowledge sharing between empowering leadership and project success is examined in this study. The current study is conducted in projects department of registered software houses located in Lahore, Pakistan. Data was collected from software development organizations for fulfillment of the study objectives from employees operating at manager and team level positions in the sector. Firsthand information was collected by using questionnaire survey method. Only 420 responses were submitted back by the respondents out of the total number of questionnaires distributed which consisted of 600 respondents. Out of 420, 394 questionnaires were usable among the submitted responses. Regression analysis was used to test the proposed relationships of the study. Study results were in line with theories supporting these associations and revealed that empowering leadership, knowledge acquisition and knowledge sharing were significantly positively associated with project success. Moreover, for mediation analysis multiple regression analysis as suggested by Baron and Kenny (1986) was performed. The results declared that both the knowledge sharing and knowledge acquisition partially mediated the relationship between empowering leadership behavior of the managers and project success. The leadership of empowerment is beneficial for the organization in order to contribute the knowledge sharing and knowledge acquisition, which add its contribution into project success. Keywords: Empowering Leadership, Knowledge Acquisition, Knowledge Sharing, Project Success