Through My Eyes: African American Women Leaders' View on the Multi- Source Feedback Assessment

Abstract

Intersectionality is an emerging topic in leadership development research. Intersectionality theory is an expansion of feminism that looks at the effects of overlapping identities, such as gender and race. This current study sought to understand the role of intersectionality on a popular form of leader development, multi- source feedback interventions. Multi-source feedback interventions provide an individual with self-referent information that promotes motivation and energy towards self-growth (Atwater, Waldman, & Brett, 2002). One's social identity often impacts the content of feedback, the process of how feedback is delivered, as well as how feedback is accepted and processed (Toegel & Conger, 2003). Using a hermeneutic phenomenological research design, I interviewed twenty African American women in leadership roles on their experience with the multi-source feedback assessment. Common themes emerged such as fear of confirming certain stereotypes, a desire for personality-based feedback, and the use of the multi-source feedback for leadership development.