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Abstract
This three-article dissertation explores how to operationalize criticality and intersectionality in Adult Learning, Leadership, and Organization Development (LLOD) through scholarship, leadership, and learning transfer. Chapter 2 examines the development of critical human resource development (CHRD) scholarship over the past 20 years (2003–2022) using social network analysis (SNA) of citation and authorship networks in HRD-related journals. The findings reveal that CHRD scholarship has been primarily led by core members—largely White women scholars in the US and UK—and is now shifting toward smaller, more cohesive communities. The study offers theoretical and practical implications and calls for more inclusive CHRD networks. Chapter 3 synthesizes how leadership is understood and enacted through an intersectional lens by systematically reviewing 160 empirical studies on intersectionality in the workplace. Group-centered studies emphasized leadership strategies of multiply marginalized, historically excluded individuals, while process-centered studies highlighted the relational and contextual dynamics of leadership. This chapter discusses tensions between these perspectives and proposes a framework for intersectional leadership that positions leadership as a vehicle for organizational social justice. Chapter 4 explores how adult learning about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is transferred to the workplace from a critical, intersectional perspective. Using critical-constructivist grounded theory, the study draws on interviews with 19 part-time graduate students who completed a DEI course in LLOD. The findings show that courses rooted in intersectional, historical, and decolonial perspectives promote holistic transformations in learners’ behaviors, attitudes, and mindsets. Despite barriers like sociopolitical resistance and organizational constraints, relational support, effective pedagogy, and personal motivation enabled meaningful DEI learning transfer. A model of critical, intersectional DEI transfer is presented. Chapter 5 concludes the dissertation by weaving together the three studies, highlighting their contributions to research, education, and practice in LLOD, and offering future research directions for advancing equity and justice in the workplace.