Upward influence styles of R&D project leaders

Innovation is not only a technological but also a sociopolitical process of contested change, which implies that the fate and the result of an R&D project are shaped by how influence is exercised. As a means of encouraging internal entrepreneurial efforts, the capacity of project leaders to successfully influence others has been widely discussed. Nevertheless, only a few studies have systematically investigated the influence behaviors of project leaders. Due to the lack of previous empirical research, we do not know much about the influence behaviors of project leaders, nor about how to manage this phenomenon, if it can be done at all. To address this gap, this study draws on a social influence framework for understanding the upward influence behaviors of the R&D project leaders. The authors propose and test a model that the influence styles used by project leaders are affected by personal, task, and relational factors and in turn affect the project performance. The empirical data of 83 ongoing projects collected from 22 Korean public and private R&D institutes in the electronics/telecommunication, machinery, and chemical industries are analyzed. The results reveal that: (1) project leaders differ not only in the general level of influence but also in how to mix various influence tactics; (2) personal characteristics (need for achievement and self-monitoring) affect the selection of influence styles (that is, tacticians, shotguns, and bystanders) of project leaders; and (3) the influence styles used by project leaders, in turn, have an effect on team performance through the influence that project leaders have on other people. Based on these findings, several theoretical and practical implications related to upward influence behaviors of project leaders and some areas for future research are discussed.