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Lab Paper #4: Analysis of Developing a Leadership Identity: A Grounded Theory

Sandra Saucedo-Falagan

Minnesota State University-Mankato

EDLD 782-01/82: Design and Methods in Qualitative Research

Dr. Jason Kaufman

March 30, 2022

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The article Developing a Leadership Identity: A Grounded Theory by Susan R. Komives,

Julie E Owen, Susan D Longerbeam, Felicia C Mainella, and Laura Osteen describes a study to

identify the process a person goes through in developing their leadership identity. The

researchers connected leadership identity to 4 categories of developmental influences that

revealed themselves in a 6-stage developmental process. (Komives et al., 2005) The categories of

developmental influences are developing self, group influences, changing view of self with

others, and the broadening view of leadership in oneself. (Komives et al., 2005)

In discussing the developmental influences, the researchers found that the influences that

helped foster leadership identities in students were adult influences, peer influences, meaningful

involvement, and reflective learning. (Komives et al., 2005) Adult influences presented in

different roles in influence student movement. (Komives et al., 2005) For example, familial

adults were essential to build confidence and support, whereas school adult were essential in how

students learned communicate and relate to their peers through the safe environments the school

adults provided. (Komives et al., 2005) When adults were first to recognize the leadership

potential early in the students there was less need for external affirmation ad the students became

more self-sufficient. Also, when these adults later became mentors to the students, the students

were able to achieve their leadership identity in full.

Peer influences also were identified as essential for leadership identity development. Peer

of the same age or older served as models at the early stage of development. (Komives et al.,

2005) Many students credit their older peers as the reason for them to get involved or interested

in projects. According to Komives et al., (2005) “Peers serve as sources for affirmation and

support.” With their peers’ students can practice skills of collaboration, how to follow and be a

teammate, and how to have meaningful conversations with others.

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Meaningful involvement in experiences allow for the students to try out or practice their

skills. According to the researchers, it’s their training ground. (Komives et al., 2005) Team

based activities allows the students to do their personal best and still support others. Reflective

learning allows students to have meaningful conversations with others. This allows the students

to uncover possible interests and passions. It allows them for continual self-assessment and

determine a commitment. (Komives et al., 2005) This process starts with parents and siblings

and then moves to peers and other adults. (Komives et al., 2005) When these students are

allowed the opportunity to intentionally learn about leadership, it provides them with language

and ideas that help establish their identity. (Komives et al., 2005)

In looking at the 6-Stages of development of process, I find the most connection to my

work as a researcher based on my research topic. My research is rooted in Culturally Responsive

Social Emotional Learning pedagogy and the effects on students, academically and socially. The

first stage of developing self is deeply entwined in my topic. The researchers in this paper states

that the students deepening awareness of their self-identity great effects their development of

their leadership identity. Early on students begin to vaguely identify their sense of self. When

adult and peers begin to influence who the student see themselves by helping them identify their

strengths and areas of attentions, do the students begin to develop a sense of leadership identity.

(Komives et al., 2005). This is directly connected to my research. Research by Rivas-Drake et

al. (2014) “have found that a strong racial-ethnic identity is linked to higher self-esteem,

academic attitudes, well-being, and the ability to navigate discrimination.”

Therefore, if the leadership identity of oneself is dependent on how ones view

themselves, it is essential that we develop this stage in the process. This then in turns develops

into self-confidence. Culturally Responsive Social Emotional Learning pedagogy is based on

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this idea. This is also in line with the Dr. Yvette Jackson work of the Pedagogy of Confidence,

where she dispels the myth if teaching to the deficits of students but instead identifying students’

strengths and using them to their advantage.

The article continues to describe the other steps of progression which are all very

important to understand but I really focused on the Self Awareness step because it is the basis of

everything that I see connected to it. Even according to CASEL’s framework (Collaborative for

Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning), self-awareness is the first step of social emotional

learning development.  (Fundamentals of SEL, 2022)

As for the research itself, I believe that it was as validity and reliable as possible.

According to the description in the article the research followed the grounded theory structure

very closely. The researchers followed what Creswell (2018) describes grounded practice to be

in many areas. Creswell notes that the purpose and bias of the researchers should be addresses

initially and the researchers in Developing a Leadership Identity: A Grounded Theory were able

to do so. Not only they were able to state the purpose and potential bias, but they were able to

site previous research, describe their method and procedures, and discuss their data analysis and

their findings. They were also able to describe their coding process to prove validity and

relatability.

The researchers were also able to organize the article in a way that created a natural flow

to understand what leadership identity is and how it is developed. I appreciate this format and I

found that I would like to immolate this the writing style as well as the research process that

followed. I was also impressed at how they used the actual words of the participants in their

examples of the different stages of development. It made the ideas expressed more relatable. I
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also appreciate the graphics and visuals in the paper. The researchers did a great job in

describing their research, their process, the goal and findings of their project.

Reading and critical thinking about this and other research papers have allowed me to

practice identifying the necessary tools that I need in order to do my own research, I appreciate

the different examples of articles and then connecting them to my topics or to my research

approach. This article in particular hit a nerve with me and made me excited about my topic

again. I may use this article and research to cite in my own literature review while also looking

for other research that supports the ideas presented in.

In reading this article it also prompted me to reread previous research that I had gathered

to check for validity and reliability. I found that some of those research that I had gathered have

new information or versions that include word choice changes. For example, as I investigated

the theory of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy by Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billing, I learned that she

has shifted from using the term Culturally Responsive to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. That

will affect me in the future research as I use the same term in my research.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the article, Developing a Leadership Identity: A Grounded

Theory, as I found that it was most relevant to my own topic. I hope to find and gather more

article and research such as this to add to my research Literature Review and citations in my

future work. I enjoy looking at research articles and looking for the characteristics of grounded

theory and its process of creating a valid and reliable resource.

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References

Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2017). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing

Among Five Approaches (4th ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.

Fundamentals of SEL. (2022, March 11). CASEL. https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/

Komives, S. R., Owen, J. E., Longerbeam, S. D., Mainella, F. C., & Osteen, L. (2005).

Developing a Leadership Identity: A Grounded Theory. Journal of College Student

Development, 46(6), 593–611. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2005.0061

Rivas-Drake, D., Syed, M., Umaña-Taylor, A., Markstrom, C., French, S., Schwartz, S. J., &

Lee, R. (2014). Feeling Good, Happy, and Proud: A Meta-Analysis of Positive Ethnic-

Racial Affect and Adjustment. Child Development, 85(1), 77–102.

https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12175

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