Self-perceived leadership: A comparative study of domestic and international project managers in a large United States-based engineering and construction firm

Leadership styles vary and these leadership styles may have a significant impact on the successful outcome of a project. Since more and more projects are done in an international setting, the international component places additional demands on leadership style. Therefore, we need to better understand how these leadership styles are both different and similar between project managers with domestic project manager experience and those with international project manager experience. Within the context of a large U.S. based engineering and construction firm, this study compares the attributes of self-perceived leadership behaviors (styles) of project managers with only U.S. domestic project manager experience, only international project manager experience, and both U.S. domestic and international project manager experience. Additionally, this study investigates the relationships the attributes of self-perceived leadership behaviors (practices) and a project manager's cumulative international experience. The Leader Behavior Analysis II®-Self (LBAII ®-Self) was used to obtain the participant's leadership style, primary leadership style, leader behavior, style flexibility and style effectiveness scores. One hundred and eighty-five of four hundred and seventy-five identified project managers returned usable instruments. A demographic questionnaire was used to collect personal and institutional variables, as well as determine a project manager's cumulative international experience. While there were some indications that there are differences in the attributes of leadership, as measured by the LBAII®-Self, between the different categories of project manager experiences, none were found to be statistically significant. Additionally, no linear relationship was found between any of the attributes of leadership, as measured by the LBAII ®-Self, and a PM's cumulative international experience.