A critical examination of the relationship between project manager leadership style and project success in the United Arab Emirates construction industry

The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a relationship between project manager leadership style and project success in UAE construction projects. The main goal of this research is to measure a relationship between the use of transformational, transactional, and passive/avoidant leadership styles by UAE construction firm project managers and construction project compliance with budget, time, and quality constraints. The researcher used a quantitative research methodology to collect data from 391 employees. Survey responses indicate that the transactional leadership style is the most popular approach among UAE construction company project managers, while the passive/avoidant style is rarely implemented. After performing the Kruskal-Wallis test, the researcher found no statistically significant relationship between the use of either transformational or passive/avoidant styles and project success. The utilization of the transactional leadership style, however, is associated with improved project performance across all the three project success criteria. The transactional style is an effective instrument to maximize project success, whereas the transformational and passive/avoidant styles are not associated with significant changes in project performance in UAE construction firms.