Black women’s leadership, persistence, and personal power
Abstract views: 58
/ 
PDF downloads: 32
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17209199Keywords:
Leadership persistence, personal power, Black womenAbstract
Black women are marginally represented in leadership positions at institutions of higher education in the United States. Black women in higher education leadership are confronted with microaggressions, stereotype threats, isolation, marginalization, and assumed incompetence, challenging their ability to persist in postsecondary service. The purpose of this research was to explore how Black women administrators at public colleges and universities in Florida have sustained their administrative roles and to evaluate whether their leadership persistence is upheld by personal power. The study is significant because the voices of a marginalized population are amplified, and insights into how Black women develop and leverage personal power to overcome internal and systemic barriers are provided. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was adopted for the research. Spearman’s rho correlational coefficient was used to test the hypothesis. The Diamond Power Index® (DPI) survey collected quantitative data and semi-structured interviews captured qualitative data. The sample included 68 Black female administrators in public colleges and universities in Florida.
References
American Council on Education. (2019). Race and ethnicity in higher education: A status report. https://www.equityinhighered.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Race-and-Ethnicity-in-Higher-Education.pdf
Anderson, C. (2022, March 23). Deborah Archer shares 5 lessons for Black women persevering to become the ‘first’. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/camianderson1/2022/03/23/deborah-archer-shares-5-lessons-for-black-women-persevering-to-become-the-first/
Asare, J. (2023, February 2). New Catalyst research finds that racism, colorism, and texturism impact women’s workplace experiences. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2023/02/02/new-catalyst-research-finds-that-racism-colorism-and-texturism-impact-womens-workplace-experiences/
Ballenger, J. (2010). Women's access to higher education leadership: Cultural and structural barriers. Forum on Public Policy Online, 2010(5), 1–20. https://www.proquest.com/docview/854554347
Bean, C. (2021). A mixed-methods study of women leaders in higher education leadership roles: An examination through the lens of intersectionality of gender and race (Doctoral dissertation, University of Louisiana at Lafayette). ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2551718102
Bibbs, T. (2019). Speaking their truth: Black women's perspectives on executive-level administration in higher education (Doctoral dissertation, University of Kentucky). Theses and Dissertations–Education Sciences. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/edsc_etds/46/
Braun, D. (2021). A worked example of Braun and Clarke’s approach to reflexive thematic analysis. Quality & Quantity, 56(3), 1391–1412. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-021-01182-y
Chance, N. (2020). “Nevertheless, she persisted”: Exploring the influence of adversity on Black women in higher education senior leadership (Doctoral dissertation, Indiana Institute of Technology). ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2436823998
Chance, N. (2021a). A phenomenological inquiry into the influence of crucible experiences on the leadership development of Black women in higher education senior leadership. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 49(4), 601–623. https://doi.org/10.1177/17411432211019417
Chance, N. (2021b). Exploring the disparity of minority women in senior leadership positions in higher education in the United States and Peru. Journal of Comparative and International Higher Education, 13(3). https://www.proquest.com/docview/672962653
Chance, N. (2022). Resilient leadership: A phenomenological exploration into how Black women in higher education leadership navigate cultural adversity. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 62(1), 44–78. https://doi.org/10.1177/00221678211003000
Chandler, J. (2020). Balancing the scales: A critical analysis of career mismatch and the underrepresentation of Black women in STEM (Doctoral dissertation, Florida State University). ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2491240125
Coker, A., Martin, C., Culver, J., & Johnson, C. (2018). Black women’s academic and leadership development in higher education: An autoethnographic study. Periferia, 10(2), 44–66. http://www.e-publicacoes.uerj.br/index.php/periferia/article/view/33714
Collins, P. H. (2009). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. Routledge. (Original work published 2000)
Corneille, M., Lee, A., Allen, S., Cannady, J., & Guess, A. (2019). Barriers to the advancement of women of color faculty in STEM: The need for promoting equity using an intersectional framework. Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: An International Journal, 38(3), 328–348. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2202772816
Creswell, J. W. (2015). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. Pearson.
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). SAGE. https://books.google.com/books?id=gX1ZDwAAQBAJ
Davis, D., & Maldonado, C. (2015). Shattering the glass ceiling: The leadership development of African American women in higher education. Advancing Women in Leadership, 35, 48–64. https://www.proquest.com/docview/110780565
Davis, S., & Brown, K. (2017). Automatically discounted: Using Black feminist theory to critically analyze the experiences of Black female faculty. International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation, 12(1), 9. https://www.proquest.com/docview/1941334944
Diamond, J. (2016). Power: A user’s guide. Belly Song Press.
Diamond Leadership. (2018a). Developing leaders’ uses of power [White paper]. https://diamondleadership.com/leadership-resources/white-papers-and-infographics/
Evans, S. Y. (2007). Black women in the ivory tower, 1850–1954: An intellectual history. University Press of Florida.
Florida Board of Governors. (n.d.). State University System. https://www.flbog.edu/
Florida Department of Education. (n.d.-b). Florida college system. https://www.fldoe.org/schools/higher-ed/fl-college-system/about-us/
Gabriel, A. S., Lanaj, K., & Jennings, R. (2020). Is one the loneliest number? A within-person examination of the adaptive and maladaptive consequences of leader loneliness at work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 106(10), 1517–1538. https://www.proquest.com/docview/202075408
Groenewald, T. (2004). A phenomenological research design illustrated. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 3(1), 1–25. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237233474_A_Phenomenological_Research_Design_Illustrated
Griffin, R. A. (2016). Black female faculty, resilient grit, and determined grace or “just because everything is different doesn’t mean anything has changed.” The Journal of Negro Education, 85(3), 365–379.
Guba, E. G., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2004). Competing paradigms in qualitative research. In S. N. Hesse-Biber & P. Leavy (Eds.), Approaches to qualitative research: A reader on theory and practice (pp. 17–38). Oxford University Press.
Gunbayi, I. (2020a). Knowledge-constitutive interests and social paradigms in guiding mixed methods research (MMR). Journal of Mixed Methods Studies, 1, 44–56.
Gunbayi, I. (2020b). Systematic curriculum and instructional development for a mixed-methods research. Journal of Mixed Methods Studies, 1, 1–27.
Gunbayi, I., & Sorm, S. (2018). Social paradigms in guiding social research design: The functional, interpretive, radical humanist and radical structural paradigms. International Journal on New Trends in Education and Their Implications, 9(2), 57–76.
Hinton, D. (2010). Creating community on the margins: The successful Black female academician. The Urban Review, 42(5), 394–402. https://www.proquest.com/docview/807537248
Hycner, R. H. (1985). Some guidelines for the phenomenological analysis of interview data. Human Studies, 8, 279–303. https://www.depts.ttu.edu/education/our-people/Faculty/additional_pages/duemer/epsy_6305_class_materials/Hycne-R-H-1985.pdf
Jernigan, Q. (2019). Middlewoman: An exploration of the social network and leadership efficacy beliefs of Black female academic deans at historically Black colleges and universities (Doctoral dissertation, North Carolina A&T State University). ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2309942151
Lewis, E. (2022). The impact of ethics and faith on the leadership styles of Black women in higher education (Doctoral dissertation, North Carolina A&T State University). ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. https://www.proquest.com/docview/1867711678
Logan, S., & Dudley, H. (2019). The “double-whammy” of being Black and a woman in higher education leadership. In H. Schnackenberg & D. Simard (Eds.), Challenges and opportunities for women in higher education leadership (pp. 84–104). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-7056-1
Loveless-Morris, J., & Reid, L. (2018). Learning communities: Opportunities for the retention of faculty of color. Learning Communities: Research & Practice, 6(1), Article 6. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2101402375
Mayo, W. (2019). A phenomenological study of women in higher education leadership: An examination of barriers, support systems, and success attainment (Doctoral dissertation, University of Louisiana at Lafayette). ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2551905368
Moody, J. (2018, July 5). Where are all the female college presidents? Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshmoody/2018/07/05/where-are-all-the-female-college-presidents/
Morgan, D. L. (2014). Integrating qualitative and quantitative methods: A pragmatic approach. SAGE Publications.
Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological research methods. SAGE Publications.
NASA. (2023, March 22). NASA’s women in STEM 2023 (Official NASA broadcast) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac9xIxU-Jso
National Museum of African American History & Culture. (n.d.). Reconstructing citizenship. Smithsonian. https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/exhibitions/reconstruction/citizenship
Nickerson, J. (2020). Black women in higher education leadership: Examining their lived experiences utilizing cross-race and cross-gender mentorship (Doctoral dissertation, Abilene Christian University). Digital Commons. https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/1248
Niemann, Y., Muhs, G., & Gonzalez, C. (2020). Presumed incompetent: Race, class, power, and resistance of women in academia. University Press of Colorado.
Onwuegbuzie, A., & Collins, K. (2007). A typology of mixed methods sampling designs in social science research. The Qualitative Report, 12(2), 281–316. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol12/iss2/9
Pillay, D. (2020). Positive affect and mindfulness as predictors of resilience amongst women leaders in higher education institutions. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 18, Article 1277. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2403841103
Richardson, T. (2009). The impact of spirituality on the leadership practices of African American women college presidents (Doctoral dissertation, The George Washington University). ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. https://www.proquest.com/docview/304880419
Roberts, L., Mayo, A., Ely, R., & Thomas, D. (2018, March). Beating the odds: Leadership lessons from senior African American women. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2018/03/beating-the-odds
Sales, S., Burke, M., & Cannonier, C. (2020). African American women leadership across contexts: Examining the internal traits and external factors on women leaders’ perceptions of empowerment. Journal of Management History, 26(3), 353–376. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2533564441
Sinclair-Chapman, V. (2019). Rebounding on the tenure track: Carving out a place of your own in the academy. PS: Political Science & Politics, 52(1), 52–56. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2157867744
Tevis, T., Hernandez, M., & Bryant, R. (2020). Reclaiming our time: An autoethnographic exploration of Black women higher education administrators. The Journal of Negro Education, 89(3), 282–297, 381–382. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2477286288
Townsend, C. (2019). Advancing African American women in public higher education: A phenomenological study of recruitment, retention, and career ascension (Doctoral dissertation, Northwest Nazarene University). ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2292910661
Townsend, C. (2021). Identity politics: Why African American women are missing in administrative leadership in public higher education. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 49(4), 584–600. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143220935455
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2023). Women in the labor force: A databook. https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/womens-databook/2022/home.htm
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (1979). The Belmont report: Ethical principles and guidelines for the protection of human subjects of research. https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/regulations-and-policy/belmont-report/read-the-belmont-report/index.html
Verrier, A. (2021). The journey of women leaders in higher education: An analysis of narratives of women overcoming bias and adversity (Doctoral dissertation, California Institute of Integral Studies). ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2542353566
Webster, L., & Brown, H. (2019). Enablers and barriers influencing African American administrators' career advancement at predominantly White institutions of higher learning. The Journal of Business Diversity, 19(4), 87–110. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2336302331
Williams, T. (2018). Black female public college and university presidents: Qualitative analysis of leadership development (Doctoral dissertation, Capella University). ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2086478287
Yin, R. K. (2016). Qualitative research from start to finish (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Action Qualitative & Mixed Methods Research
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The journal is licensed under a 