Science Research Management

Science Research Management ›› 2021, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (6): 150-158.

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The influence of charismatic leadership on knowledge transfer in project teams

Ren Xu，Liu Jia   

  1. School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
  • Received:2020-06-07 Revised:2020-11-19 Online:2021-06-20 Published:2021-06-22
  • Contact: ren xuxu
  • Supported by:
    Research on the Knowledge Transfer of a Construction Project Network

Abstract:     The implementation of the project contains the integration and application of different kinds of technologies and experiences from the experts and technicians in the project. Knowledge transfer between them consists in the whole project life-cycle period. Therefore, it has great realistic meanings to promote knowledge transfer in the project team so as to improve the project management efficiency and realize the project goals. As the project manager is the core leader for tasks and resources assignment and team building in the project, his leadership plays a key role in the knowledge transfer activities in the project team.
   According to the Theory of Reasoned Action(TRA), the knowledge transfer intention of the team members is influenced by the subjective norms and their transfer attitude. As the heart of the whole project team, the project manager′s leadership can act as the subject norms to affect whether they would like to transfer knowledge with each other. Psychological safety which is defined as the beliefs team members can express themselves without fearing of negative interpersonal consequences, can reflect their attitude to the knowledge transfer behavior. Based on the TRA, this paper studies the effect which the project manager′s charismatic leadership has on knowledge transfer intention and the mediating role of team members′ psychological safety in this influencing path. Meanwhile, environmental factors are also very important in influencing knowledge transfer because they supply the context for the team members′ interaction. Previous studies suggest future research should focus on the boundary conditions psychological safety′s effect on knowledge transfer. Hence this paper makes further analysis about the moderating effect of the dynamic environment in the influence that psychological safety has on transfer intention. 
    In this study, data is collected from the project teams in the construction industry in China to test the hypotheses proposed. The respondents include project managers, head engineers, department managers in project, engineers and project general staff. Of the total 282 questionnaires sent out, 245 responses were returned, representing a response rate of 86.88 percent. Data analysis is conducted with SPSS 22.0 software, and the results show the validity, reliability and discriminant validity of the constructs achieve the satisfactory level. The hypotheses are tested with the hierarchical regression method and the results show that:(1) The charismatic leadership has a significant positive effect on team members′ transfer intention. Among the five dimensions of charismatic leadership, vision, consideration to staff, innovation and affinity can positively influence team members′ transfer intention, while another dimension, professional ability, does not.(2) The psychological safety can partially mediate the influence vision and innovation have on transfer intention, and can fully mediate the influence consideration to staff and affinity have on transfer intention.(3) The environmental dynamics can negatively moderate the positive influence psychological safety has on transfer intention. 
    Based on the empirical research findings, some theoretical contributions can be concluded in this study.(1) This paper reveals the influencing path from the project manager′s charismatic leadership to team members′ knowledge transfer intention.(2) The study finds that knowledge transfer intention is one of the outcome variables of the psychological safety, demonstrating the viewpoints that psychological safety can promote team learning and knowledge sharing in previous studies.(3) The research finds the moderating effect of the environmental dynamics in the influence the psychological safety has in the exploitative learning is different from it has in the exploratory learning.
   Finally, the study put forward some valuable practical suggestions for better knowledge management in the project.(1) The project managers should act as charismatic leaders to promote knowledge transfer in the project team.(2) The project managers should take actions to improve the psychological safety of team members, such as organizing and taking part in the team activities, being kind to team members, caring about them, building the fair and sharing team atmosphere and so on, to encourage the knowledge transfer among them.(3) The project manager should pay more attention to the team building in the dynamic environment. They can improve the team resilience to defense against external uncertain environment through their charismatic leadership so as to successfully realize the project goals.

Key words: charismatic leadership, psychological safety, environmental dynamics, knowledge transfer intention, project team