Following the call to investigate whether the theory of leadership could be applicable in temporary organizations, this research examined the associations among transformational leadership (TFL), subordinate work engagement (WEG) and project turnover intention (PTI) in project settings. In addition, a subordinate's identification with the project is proposed as a social identity mechanism through which transformational project managers exert influence on subordinate work outcomes. The model is tested based on the data collected from a sample of 162 employees working in infrastructure projects located in China. Transformational leadership is found to positively relate to subordinates' work engagement and negatively relate to subordinates' project turnover intentions. Furthermore, project identification completely mediates the TFL-WEG relationship, whereas it partially mediates the TFL PTI relationship. These findings contribute to literature by extending the extant transformational leadership approaches in the context of temporary organization, and by broadening the leadership research in conjunction with social identity theory. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. APM and IPMA. All rights reserved.