Linking humble leadership and project success: the moderating role of top management support with mediation of team-building

Purpose This paper aims to examine the impact of humble leadership on project success. The authors propose that such an effect is mediated by team-building, and top management support moderates the direct relationship (humble leadership and project success) as well as an indirect relationship through team-building. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 337 individuals employed in the information technology sector of Pakistan. A two-step approach consisting confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling was used for analysis. To examine conditional direct and indirect effects, the authors utilized model 8 in PROCESS. Findings The results showed that humble leadership is positively related to project success. Furthermore, team-building partially mediates the relationship between humble leadership and project success. Moreover, top management support was anticipated to have a moderating effect on the direct and indirect link (via team-building) between humble leadership and project success. Originality/value Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, this study found that how humble leadership is vital for project success, and thus, extends the utility of the concept of humble leadership to the project literature.