Attributes of Successful Leaders: A Phenomenological Study on the Making of Successful African American Information Technology Leaders Through the Lens of Social Identity

Attributes of Successful Leaders: A Phenomenological Study on the Making of Successful African American Information Technology Leaders Through the Lens of Social Identity

John Kojo Odoom | 2019

Abstract

Through a phenomenological study of 10 Black female leaders in the IT sector, the study answered two questions: To what do successful female leaders in senior IT positions attribute their success, and what recommendations would these leaders make to other African American females who aspire to senior positions in IT? The findings from this study were not completely consistent with the literature. The findings indicated that these Black women were successful leaders because they demonstrated nurture, care, and consideration. Their ability to become the prototypical leader was not due to embodying the behavior and attitude of the group but in demonstrating nurture, care, and consideration; the exercise of their own high personal standards, according to the ranking of the themes, was the most significant in their lives. The answers to the questions showed that the leaders were prototypical because they could demonstrate nurture, care, and consideration. These qualities gave the leaders the abilities to enter the social landscape of their subordinates and meet the needs and concerns of those subordinates. The study contributed to the scholarly and practitioner literature in filling a research gap about how Black women leaders could become the prototypical leader in the IT sector, which was dominated by White males at the time of this study.