Campus Location

Dallas Campus (Online)

Date of Award

7-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Department

Organizational Leadership

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Committee Chair or Primary Advisor

Cynthia Sims

Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor

Lynda Jackson

Third Committee Member or Committee Reader

Wynona James

Abstract

Black women continue to be underrepresented in senior leadership positions in the workplace although they are the most educated in the workplace. This study explores the lived experience of African American women who work for the federal sector and their career advancement into leadership and managerial positions. A qualitative method was used, and the participants consisted of Black women who worked for the federal sector who had either promoted to a leadership position within the last 3 to 5 years or aspired to be in a leadership position.

Interviews were conducted via Zoom, and in vivo coding was used to analyze the data. The study revealed that Black women have benefited from being both hypervisible and invisible in the workplace to advance their careers in the federal sector. Regardless of if it was through diversity and inclusion initiatives or simply not bringing attention to oneself, there was a positive outcome for them. However, the study also revealed the disparate treatment of Black women who work for the federal sector and their experiences. This research sheds light on how African American women show up in the workplace and how maximizing their social identity or minimizing their social identity can affect their career trajectory. The findings of this study support existing research and could inform future studies to delve deeper into the psychological effects of identity shifting and what solutions companies can put in place to support authenticity and Black women who work for the federal sector.

Keywords: hypervisibility, invisibility, intersectionality, career advancement,

Black/African American

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.