Shared Leadership: Towards a Theoretical Moderation Framework in Information Systems Project Teams

Abstract

Shared leadership refers to an emergent, collective team process where leadership is distributed among and stems from team members, rather than a single designated leader. While shared leadership has gained considerable attention in the literature in recent years, it has received little attention in information systems (IS) project teams. In this study, a theoretical moderation framework in IS project teams that portrays the positive relationship between shared leadership and IS project success is presented. Moreover, project-centered moderators (i.e., project complexity and project task interdependence) and team-centered moderators (i.e., team autonomy and team supportive culture) have been proposed to influence the shared leadership-IS project success relationship. This study proposes that this relationship is stronger when projects are more complex and more interdependent, and when teams have a higher level of autonomy and supportive culture.