Comparative Relationship Between Racial Groups of College Students and Leadership Behaviors

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative comparative study was to determine if and to what extent Black and White college students significantly differ in their Challenge the Process (CTP) and Enable Others to Act (EOA) leadership behaviors. Theoretical frameworks were critical race theory, leadership development theory, and the five practices of exemplary leadership. The first research question asked if differences existed between black and white racial groups of college students and their CTP leadership behaviors. The second research question asked if differences existed in terms of EOA leadership behaviors. The final paid sample (n = 152) comprised 81 (53.3%) White/Caucasian and 71 (46.7%) Black/African American college students at least 18 years old and living in the United States. The student-leadership practices inventory served to quantify leadership behaviors. All assumptions testing prevailed. One continuous dependent variable existed, two groups were in the sole independent variable, participants belonged to just one group. Box Plots showed no extreme outliers existed. Q-Q Plots showed normal data distributions. Levene’s test showed an equality of variances. Results indicated that a very highly statistically significant difference (p < .001) exists between racial groups and CTP leadership behaviors but no statistically significant difference (p = .616) exists regarding EOA leadership behaviors. A contribution of the present study is the theoretical implication that marginalized racial groups more frequently practice leadership behaviors meant to embrace adversity and challenge the status quo than their majority counterparts.