Establishing a Leadership Framework for Successful Manufacturing Project Management: A Case Study of Borouge Manufacturing Company

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of various leadership styles on the success of manufacturing project management, with work engagement as a mediating factor. Using BOROUGE, a leading manufacturing company in the UAE, as a case study, an empirical framework was developed and validated through Structural Equation Modeling-Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) analysis. The findings reveal that competency leadership, servant leadership, and behavioral leadership significantly contribute to project management success, while situational leadership does not have a direct effect. Among these, behavioral leadership exerts the strongest positive influence, whereas servant leadership has a negative impact, indicating a complex relationship. In terms of indirect effects, both situational and behavioral leadership demonstrate significant mediation through work engagement. Specifically, situational leadership enhances project success solely through work engagement, whereas behavioral leadership exerts both a direct and an additional indirect effect via work engagement. These findings provide deeper insights into leadership dynamics in manufacturing project management and highlight the critical role of work engagement as a mediating mechanism.