Modeling the Impact of Transformational Leadership Style on Construction Project Performance

Leadership style in project delivery is enjoying wider consideration as part of the evolution in the modern world beyond the deployment of technical expertise. Therefore, this work investigates how the adoption of transformational leadership style (TFLS) by project managers (PMs) influences the outcome of projects in Nigeria. The conceptual path model uses a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach to determine the strength of association between the factors of TFLS and project outcome indicators. Data collected through a questionnaire survey of 975 respondents were tested, deemed reliable and consistent by a .901 Cronbach alpha value. While descriptive data analysis was achieved through SPSS Statistics software. Results show that the intellectual stimulation and charismatic influence of TFLS significantly influence the outcome of construction projects. Also, 20.9% of the variability in the performance indicators is accounted for by the variables of TFLS, which, by implication, improve performance by 20.9%. The construction stakeholders could incorporate these findings with advantageous factors of other styles to eliminate age-long performance issues associated with project delivery in the study area and across the globe. The study contributes to the literature on the application of the structural equation model in analyzing relationships among latent constructs of measurement within the industry. Using SEM has added to the nexus of leadership research in the Nigerian construction industry, just as has been witnessed by other aspects of construction management. The study emphasized and concluded on the important aspect of TFLS to be incorporated by PMs in Nigeria to ensure enhanced productivity and achievement of organizational goals. Received: 22 November 2024 | Revised: 23 April 2025 | Accepted: 10 July 2025 Conflicts of Interest The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to this work. Data Availability Statement Data available on request from the corresponding author upon reasonable request Author Contribution Statement Femi-Favor Olabode Olasunkanmi: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization, Project administration, Funding acquisition. Dubem Isaac Ikediashi: Validation, Resources, Supervision. Jacob Atser: Formal analysis, Data curation. Emmanuel Chongcicimmi Ibrahim: Software.