Unveiling the power of shared leadership in project realms: a synergy of planning, knowledge, cohesion, and trust

Information technology (IT) projects have a considerably higher failure rate when compared to projects in other industrial sectors. Shared leadership offers an approach to tackle this shortcoming, however, there are a lack of studies in the extant literature that have investigated the role of shared leadership in IT projects to improve knowledge sharing, planning, cohesion and trust in projects. Therefore, this study aims to explore how project planning, knowledge sharing, and team cohesiveness can bridge the link between shared leadership and project success in the presence of trust in teams. A survey instrument was adopted to collect data from 154 project managers, team leaders, team members, and project coordinators of leading project-based IT companies in Pakistan. The findings reveal a significant and positive impact of shared leadership on project success. Furthermore, project planning, knowledge sharing and team cohesion significantly mediated the relationship between shared leadership and project success. Also, trust in the team strengthens the positive relationship between shared leadership and project success, thereby suggesting that project managers of IT projects should exhibit shared leadership through formal project planning, knowledge sharing, team cohesion and developing trust among team members.