Investigating the Impact of Lean Leadership on Construction Project Success

Lean has been widely practiced in construction in the last decade. Aiming to maximize value while minimizing waste, Lean tools and techniques are of utmost importance in terms of promoting construction project performance. However, the use of tools and techniques without a change in culture does not ensure the lasting change. At this point, Lean Leadership plays a crucial role for ensuring the cultural change through the integration of Lean principles with the leadership behavior. Lean leadership is a system enabling to develop leaders as well as adopting Lean principles. In the construction industry, Lean Leadership studies are scarce. Hence, this study develops novel components for Lean Leadership revealing the impact of effective leadership on the construction project success. In this respect, a conceptual framework was developed to investigate the relationship between these two factors. An online survey was designed and administered to the lean construction practitioners operating in the U.S. construction industry. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to verify the relation between Lean Leadership and construction project success. The analysis of data indicated that there is a direct and positive association between Lean Leadership and construction project success.