Dark side of leadership and information technology project success: the role of mindfulness

Purpose– The success of projects is a major challenge for information technology (IT) project-based businesses (PBOs). Employees’ negative emotions (NE) disrupt the employees’ usual work activities by creating obstacles to routine operations. Organizations should take steps to lessen these NE.The current study assessed the mediating role of NE and the moderating influence of employee mindfulness in the association between despotic leadership (DL) and IT project success (PS). Design/methodology/approach–Time-laggeddatawerecollectedfrom341employeesworkinginvarious IT-based project organizations in Pakistan using purposive sampling. Findings– Results were consistent with the authors’ hypothesized framework, as DL increases employees’ NE, which in turn negatively affects IT PS. In addition, mindfulness plays a buffering role in mitigating the damaging impact of DL on NE. Originality/value–PreviousresearchersfocusedonthepositiveaspectsofleadershipanditsinfluenceonPS and paid limited attention to the dark leadership style. The authors’ study’s findings help understand how project-based organizations can reduce employees’ NE.