Campus Location
Dallas Campus (Online)
Date of Award
11-2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Department
Organizational Leadership
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Julie Lane
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Colleen Ramos
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Jaime Goff
Abstract
The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore Black entrepreneur women’s personal development and its effect on their self-identity. The study specifically aimed to explore personal development, entrepreneurship, and self-identity as they related to and affected Black entrepreneur women, in the United States, and their experiences with oppression, challenges, barriers, intersectionality, and systemic subordination. Historically, Black entrepreneur women have experienced systematic oppression and faced increased challenges that have and continue to negatively affect their entrepreneurial progress and their self-identity. Preliminary findings from the literature found that when Black entrepreneurial women engage in personal development, the results are reflected in both their personal and business growth in a positive manner. While Black women continue to be marginalized, oppressed, suppressed, and depressed, they continue to be the fastest growing demographic group in starting new businesses. This solidifies the Black woman’s uniqueness and their ability to push through oppression and the intersectionality of race, gender bias, and sexuality despite such challenges. Black feminist thought and intersectionality theory served as the conceptual framework that guided this study and assisted with the interviewing of 11 Black entrepreneur women. The findings of this study are grounded in Black feminist thought and the various dimensions of intersectionality theory and support the unique perspective to understand the Black woman’s consciousness, struggles, and double jeopardy treatment, and Black women’s personal development, its processes, and its effect on their self-identity.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Washington, Mayrion Ann, "A Phenomenological Study of the Lived Experiences of Black Entrepreneur Women’s Personal Development and Its Effect on Their Self-Identity" (2024). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 825.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/825
Included in
Business Commons, Communication Commons, Development Studies Commons, Education Commons, Organization Development Commons, Sociology Commons