Servant leadership and its effects on IT project success

Abstract

Servant Leadership is well known as an employee-oriented leadership style which is used by several major corporations. This work investigates the effects that Servant Leadership may have on the success of Information Technology (IT) projects. To estimate these effects via structural equation modelling (SEM) this study is based on already established models: the model of Servant Leadership developed by Van Dierendonck and Nuijten and the model of IT project success developed by Harwardt. Three of the Servant Leadership dimensions have positive impact on the success dimensions IT project. The Servant Leadership Dimension Accountability has a positive impact on the dimensions Project management success, Perception success and Result success. Authenticity has a positive impact on Project management success and Result success, whereas Forgiveness affects only Result success.