Transformational Leadership and Project Success: A Mediating Role of Public Service Motivation

• Author: Qin Su,Muhammad Zeeshan Fareed
• Published date: 01 April 2022
• DOI: 10.1177/00953997211040466
• Date: 01 April 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/00953997211040466

Administration & Society

2022, Vol. 54(4) 690 –713

© The Author(s) 2021

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/00953997211040466

journals.sagepub.com/home/aas

Article

Transformational

Leadership and Project

Success: A Mediating

Role of Public Service

Motivation

Muhammad Zeeshan Fareed1

and Qin Su1

Abstract

Previous studies have linked public-sector employees’ motivation to

desired results such as higher performance and improved quality of public

services. However, questions about the impact of employee motivation

on public projects have received less attention. This article uses work

motivation theory to explore the fundamental processes by which

transformational leadership (TL) and public service motivation (PSM)

engender public project success (PS). Analysis of 296 public servants’

data working on Pakistan public projects showed a positive correlation

between TL, PSM, and PS. It also showed that PSM partially mediates the

relationship between TL and PS.

Keywords

public service motivation, transformational leadership, public administration,

project management, project success

1School of Management, Xi’an Jiaotong University, China.

Corresponding Author:

Muhammad Zeeshan Fareed, School of Management, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049,

China.

Email: fareed@stu.xjtu.edu.cn

1040466AAS0010.1177/00953997211040466Administration & SocietyFareed and Su

research-article2021

Fareed and Su 691

Introduction

Governments in high-income and low-income countries invest large capitals

each year in public projects (Flyvbjerg, 2014). According to the U.K. National

Audit Office (NAO, 2011, p. 5) reports, “the evidence shows that two-thirds

of public sector projects are completed late, over budget or do not deliver the

outcomes expected.” A project management survey performed by KPMG in

2020 showed that the project success (PS) rate was about 25% in 2020

(KPMG, 2020). Furthermore, the literature apprises that the project failure

rate is more than the worldwide PS (Raziq et al., 2018; Ul Musawir et al.,

2017). Project management literature indicates that 80% of the project fails

due to poor leadership (Maqbool et al., 2017; Naeem & Khanzada, 2017;

Srića, 2008). In Pakistan, the PS rate is 8%, according to Asian Development

Bank’s (2005) report. Moreover, leadership is one of the significant factors

responsible for project failure (Riaz & Noor, 2014). Despite the fact that lead-

ership has been a hot topic for academic research for years, there is a dearth

of empirical research in the context of project management (Söderlund, 2011;

Turner & Müller, 2005; Tyssen et al., 2013).

Public administration literature also shows that improving leadership is

the key to improving employee and organizational performance (Moynihan

et al., 2012; Rainey, 2014; Van Wart, 2013). Transformational leadership

(TL) is the most studied leadership theory in both public administration lit-

erature (Vogel & Masal, 2015) and general leadership research (Judge &

Piccolo, 2004). It has been found that goal-oriented leadership (e.g., transfor-

mational) positively affects employee productivity (Avolio et al., 2009;

Jacobsen & Andersen, 2015; Wright et al., 2012). TL’s features have always

been acknowledged as significant in public-sector administration (Corson &

Paul, 1966; Selznick, 1957; Stone, 1945, 1981; Trottier et al., 2008). TL

attempts to align followers’ objectives with organizational objectives and

improves performance by persuading followers and their behavior (Fjendbo,

2020; Jensen, 2018).

Goal-oriented leadership approaches increase employees’ achievement

of goals through direction and motivation (Jacobsen & Andersen, 2015;

Jensen et al., 2019; Oberfield, 2014). Motivation is a goal in itself and an

essential phase in improving performance results such as productivity,

well-being, commitment, and increased throughput (Bellé, 2012; Bright,

2008; Kjeldsen & Andersen, 2013; Vandenabeele, 2009). Knowing how a

team member’s characteristics contribute to the leader’s effectiveness is

tremendously important for project managers intended to raise motivation

through leadership (Fjendbo, 2020). The skill to motivate others is an

essential leadership competency (Hughes et al., 2009) and a project