The role of team temporal leadership in driving construction project success: a meta-analytical review

Team temporal leadership (TTL) has been identified as a key determinant of project performance to enable assessment of project success. However, the specific mechanisms through which TTL impacts key performance indicators in construction remain underexplored. This paper analyses the role of TTL on construction project outcomes by identifying features of TTL to examine critical indicators of construction project success and analyse the influence of TTL features on these success indicators. Drawing upon 30 peer-reviewed studies from 2015 to 2024, the meta-analysis based on PRISMA reveals a relationship between TTL effect size and project success indicators. Analysis reveals positive correlation between TTL and project success, with seven studies indicating the effect sizes ranging from 0.29 to 0.42 (p < 0.001; 0.005) while 23 studies have no information on effect sizes across timely completion, team performance and learning, efficiency, cost and success in sustainable construction. These effect sizes are moderated by external factors including complexity and unforeseen disruptions. Project practitioners may consider integrating TTL principles into leadership development programmes, embedding strategic time management and team coordination, while formulating policies for adaptive leadership capable of navigating external complexities. Future research should explore context-specific TTL strategies and their longitudinal impact on project outcomes.