Leadership: a critical success factor in IT project management

Summary form only given. This research paper explores the nature and importance of leadership in technical projects. It contends that there is need to develop a leadership model incorporating the unique personality and occupational characteristics of technical professionals and their project environment. Increasing attention is now being paid to the nontechnical aspects, such as leadership, in the execution of technical projects; but there is a dearth of empirical research justifying their importance as critical success factors. Using Bass and Avolio´s (1990) model and its measurement instrument, this study tested the suitability of transformational leadership, considered a cornerstone of post-industrial school of leadership, in the successful execution of information systems projects. In addition, a separate technical leadership scale, derived from the meta analysis of the technical leadership literature, was also tested. The conceptual framework postulated that a combination of transformational and technical leadership styles augment transactional leadership leading to high project success with the additional support of other contingency factors, such as clarity of project mission, top management support and availability of technical resources