When leadership feels attainable: organizational cues shape black employees’ leadership aspirations

Abstract

Developing a sustainable managerial pipeline for black hospitality employees is crucial to establishing a more inclusive, equitable environment. This study aims to identify and assess barriers and facilitators that influence leadership self-efficacy, retention and intent to apply for leadership roles. This study used an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design with black hourly hospitality employees. Study 1 (n = 20) conducted online structured interviews to identify barriers and facilitators to leadership. Partial least squares - structural equation modeling was used in Study 2 (n = 145) to test the effects of identified facilitators, and in Study 3 (n = 167) to test the effects of identified barriers on pipeline outcomes. Seven themes emerged from the interviews. Quantitative results showed mentorship (theme 1), Employee resource groups (theme 2a), inclusive culture (theme 2 b), development (theme 3), help-seeking (theme 4a) and self-leadership (theme 4 b) improved leadership intent, retention and leadership self-efficacy. Customer-oriented racism (theme 5a), organizational-oriented racism (theme 5 b), evaluation bias (theme 6), generational conflict (theme 7a), ignorance excuse (theme 7 b) and stereotyping (theme 7c) negatively impacted all three outcomes. By identifying barriers and facilitators to leadership, the study illustrates why black employees remain underrepresented. Systemic issues, not employee aspirations, are the primary issue for the chronic underrepresentation. This study takes an unconventional, bottom-up approach to examining the underrepresentation of black employees in leadership. Attribution theory is extended to include organizational attributes that lead to perceptions of success and failure.