Possibilities and Potential: A Multilevel Analysis of Leader Identity Construction for Faculty of Color

Abstract

Racial diversity in higher education leadership has been slow to cultivate and keep pace with demographic changes. Even though there are numerous ways to examine this elusive problem, higher education scholarship has not studied how faculty of Color construct a leader identity. Using an interpretative phenomenological analytical approach, this qualitative exploratory study examines how 31 newly tenured faculty of Color participants from three different research-intensive, Midwestern, public institutions construct a leader identity. Using DeRue and Ashford’s (2010) leader identity theory as an analytical framework to view the everyday experiences of faculty of Color, results are presented through three different levels of social analysis: (a) intrapersonal reflections, (b) interpersonal interactions, and (c) organizational acknowledgments. Results indicate leader identity is catalyzed from: (a) racial community inspiration, (b) career aspiration, (c) explicit encouragement, (d) interdisciplinary organizational structures, and (e) diversity advocacy. On the other hand, leader identity is inhibited by: (a) researcher and leader identity conflict, (b) lack of preparation, (c) implicit signaling, (d) tokenization withdraw, (e) ambiguous collective endorsement, and (f) formal leader denial. Implications for theory, practice, and future research are discussed.