Sustainability and software development projects: leadership, core self-evaluation and empowerment as critical success factors

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to integrate job demands–resources theory with core self-evaluation theory to examine how and when sustainable project leadership stimulates sustainable project performance. Psychological empowerment is used as a mechanism between sustainable project leadership and sustainable project performance, whereas core self-evaluation acts as a moderator between sustainable project leadership and psychological empowerment. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a time-lagged two-phase approach to collecting data from 257 software engineers working in medium-sized and large companies in the Polish financial sector. Findings This study reveals the direct and indirect (through psychological empowerment) effects of sustainable project leadership on sustainable project performance. It also confirms that the “sustainable project leadership–psychological empowerment” relationship strengthens with increasing level of project team members’ core self-evaluation. Originality/value This article explores a unique research framework. It significantly enriches the literature on sustainable project management, increasing the understanding of effective leadership practices that address the needs of software engineering teams to support sustainable project performance.