21st Century Transformational Leadership: The Neo-Stereotypical Phenomenon of a Black Female Principal

• Main Author: Wallis, Terri Valentine
• Other Authors: Martin, Lori L.
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: LSU 2016
• Subjects: Education
• Online Access: http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-03162016-205307/

The purpose of this study was to examine the leadership perceptions of a Black female first year principal in a predominantly White private Christian school. For years, educational research and leadership models for school principals were theorized and constructed based on White men or those in the dominant group. This study is significant in that it sought to explore the perception of the leadership behaviors and dispositions of a Black female to determine if there was a correlation between the Transformational Leadership Theory and the emergent leadership style. In the qualitative tradition, this autoethnographic study used narrative inquiry to explore the phenomenon of my first year as a principal and examine the intersections of my race and gender that affect my leadership perceptions. The findings from the narrative data introduced a leadership model based on the emergence of the Neo-Stereotypic Black female leader and described the four dimensions; Neo-Mammy, Neo-Jezebel, Neo-Sapphire, and Neo-Matriarch. These dimensions were compared to the four dimensions of the Transformational Leadership Theory. This study identified a strong correlation between the perceived leadership behaviors of a Black female principal with that of the Transformational Leadership Theory.