The consequences of shared leadership on job demands and job resources in project teams

Shared leadership has been identified as an important form of team-centric leadership that complements vertical leadership practices in project teams. It has been connected with many positive outcomes on team performance and effectiveness, and it has been reported to enhance team members' job satisfaction. However, less is known about how team members experience the consequences of shared leadership. Hence the aim of our study was to explore how shared leadership consequences are experienced amongst project team members, and how these consequences are related to job demands and resources. We conducted a qualitative study with 31 participants from 15 project teams from private and public sector. The data was analysed with a lens of job demands-resources (JD-R) theory to capture how team members perceive shared leadership consequences, and how these experiences are reflected as job demands and resources. We found that project team members’ experiences of shared leadership consequences were reflected as increasing hindrance and challenge demands, and as enhancing job resources. Our findings bring new knowledge on shared leadership consequences and highlight both the benefits and cautions of these consequences for project teams. • Shared leadership was experienced to increase job demands and resources. • Shared leadership was experienced to enhance project teams' job resources. • Increased hindrance demands can be mitigated by clearly defined goals and roles.