Leadership, organizational culture, and innovative behavior in construction projects

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the joint congruence effect of leadership styles and organizational culture on project members’ innovative behaviors in the construction projects setting. Design/methodology/approach The proposed hypotheses are tested using polynomial regression with a sample of 217 project managers and employees of different construction projects in China, and plotted through response surface analysis. Findings The results of polynomial regressions support the congruence effect hypothesis, indicating that more innovative behaviors of the project members could be elicited by a high level of congruence between transformational or transactional leadership styles and organizational culture. Furthermore, asymmetrical incongruence effects are found wherein project members with lower levels of innovative behaviors when project organizational culture is stronger as compared with when two leadership styles are at higher levels. Specifically, the condition is found under the innovation dimension of organization culture, but higher level of innovative behavior conversely displays when the harmony culture is weaker than two leadership styles. Research limitations/implications The conceptual model and hypotheses are examined by analyzing cross-sectional and self-reported data collected in China. The findings could be further examined through multi-source or longitudinal, more systematic research. Practical implications The findings highlight the pivotal role played by the value congruence of leaders-organizations in motivating employees to be innovative in project organizations. This paper provides knowledge for project managers to help them understand whether and how project members’ innovative behaviors are better motivated by the fit or misfit between the styles of leadership and project organizational cultures. Besides, this study provides the approach or direction for the project leaders training. Originality/value This study is one of the first to examine the joint effects of leadership styles and organizational culture on innovative behavior based on the person-organization fit theory and from the perspective of value congruence.