Building a Human Capital Agility Model Through the Integration of Leadership Agility and Knowledge Management for Sustainable Project Success

Human Capital Agility is increasingly recognized as a critical capability for achieving sustainable project success in the highly dynamic construction sector, yet an original and empirically testable Human Capital Agility model rooted in Human Capital theory is still lacking. This study aims to develop and validate a Human Capital Agility framework that integrates Leadership Agility and Knowledge Management and to construct a hierarchical roadmap for the gradual development of Human Capital Agility. Using a multi-method design, survey data from 141 construction professionals were analyzed with Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling to test the structural relationships among Knowledge Management, Leadership Agility, Human Capital Agility, Sustainable Project Success, and the moderating role of Firm Size, while expert judgments from nine practitioners were modeled using Modified Total Interpretive Structural Modeling to derive the internal hierarchy of Human Capital Agility components. The results show that Leadership Agility is a dominant driver of Human Capital Agility and that Human Capital Agility significantly enhances Sustainable Project Success, whereas the direct effect of tacit knowledge on Leadership Agility is not supported. The hierarchical model maps nine key components of Human Capital Agility into six levels, separating foundational drivers such as attitudes and predisposition from higher-level outcome capabilities such as generative behavior, responsiveness, adaptability, and resilience. These findings provide an integrated and empirically grounded Human Capital Agility model that offers both a causal explanation and a practical roadmap for strengthening human capital capabilities in construction projects.