The Leader Identity of Black Women in College: A Grounded Theory

Through this constructivist grounded theory study, I explored how Black women in college have developed their identities as leaders. Through analysis of the conversations with participants, I developed a theoretical model for this leader identity development process titled the Black Undergraduate Women Leader Identity model (BUWLI model). Data collection occurred in the form of individual interviews with 11 women from one college and one university located in the Southeast region of the United States. Through these conversations, participants discussed the intersection of race, gender, and leadership how they learned about leadership, and how they came to see themselves as leaders.

Data analysis occurred using grounded theory methodology, paying particular attention to coding, memo-writing, theoretical sensitivity, and member checking. I completed initial line-by-line coding before moving to focused coding, through which I found 62 distinct codes. Next, I condensed these to 14 themes through theoretical coding. Participant experiences were fairly consistent related to leader identity development and each described preparing to lead, learning to lead, leader identity and its complexities, and applying leadership (the four developmental steps of the BUWLI model). They also described at length the contexts in which they developed their identities as leaders including oppression and discrimination as well as being influenced by the mothering behaviors of their mothers or female caretakers.