When leadership feels attainable: organizational cues shape black employees’ leadership aspirations

Purpose Developing a sustainable managerial pipeline for black hospitality employees is crucial to establishing a more inclusive, equitable environment. This study aims to identify and assess barriers and facilitators that influence leadership self-efficacy, retention and intent to apply for leadership roles. Design/methodology/approach This study used an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design with black hourly hospitality employees. Study 1 (n = 20) conducted online structured interviews to identify barriers and facilitators to leadership. Partial least squares - structural equation modeling was used in Study 2 (n = 145) to test the effects of identified facilitators, and in Study 3 (n = 167) to test the effects of identified barriers on pipeline outcomes. Findings Seven themes emerged from the interviews. Quantitative results showed mentorship (theme 1), Employee resource groups (theme 2a), inclusive culture (theme 2 b), development (theme 3), help-seeking (theme 4a) and self-leadership (theme 4 b) improved leadership intent, retention and leadership self-efficacy. Customer-oriented racism (theme 5a), organizational-oriented racism (theme 5 b), evaluation bias (theme 6), generational conflict (theme 7a), ignorance excuse (theme 7 b) and stereotyping (theme 7c) negatively impacted all three outcomes. Research limitations/implications By identifying barriers and facilitators to leadership, the study illustrates why black employees remain underrepresented. Systemic issues, not employee aspirations, are the primary issue for the chronic underrepresentation. Originality/value This study takes an unconventional, bottom-up approach to examining the underrepresentation of black employees in leadership. Attribution theory is extended to include organizational attributes that lead to perceptions of success and failure.