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Indexed by:Journal Papers

Date of Publication:2019-12-02

Journal:INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGING PROJECTS IN BUSINESS

Included Journals:SSCI

Volume:12

Issue:4

Page Number:845-868

ISSN No.:1753-8378

Key Words:Transformational leadership; Trust; Feeling trusted; Project team members

Abstract:Purpose Silencing behavior among project team members (PTM) poses a potential threat to project results. Hence, breaking silence in projects is critical to motivate team members and beneficial for project outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between transformational leadership (TL) of project manager (PM) and silence behavior of PTMs. It proposes a mediating role of feeling trusted (FT) to fill this gap by conducting an empirical research. Design/methodology/approach A theoretical model was developed and a series of hypotheses were proposed based on existing literature. Then, regression analysis was conducted on a sample of 219 team members of a diverse set of projects in China. Findings The paper empirically shows that TL of PM is significantly negatively related to team members' defensive and prosocial silence (PS), but not with their acquiescence silence. In addition, the study also discovered that team members' FT mediates the effects of TL on team members' defensive and PS. Originality/value This research is one of the early studies that address the issue of silence behavior in project context, which is a contribution to the coordination and communication in project management.