Navigating the corporate hierarchy: How Black female executives make sense of their experiences ascending the corporate ladder and sustaining themselves in senior-level positions

It has been documented that African American women represent a tiny fraction of the leadership at the upper levels of corporations. Evidence suggests that being Black and female converts the glass ceiling to a more impenetrable concrete ceiling as these women strive to extend their careers beyond middle management. Yet, although their numbers are minuscule, some African American women do manage to advance to and sustain themselves at the senior levels of top-tier corporations. How these women describe their experiences navigating beyond barriers that so few Black women are able to penetrate is the focus of this study. A review of the literature in light of Kegan's constructive-developmental theory of adult development suggests that making meaning at a self-authoring level of complexity is needed to deal effectively with the uniquely multifaceted mental demands Black female executives tend to face in corporations.;The importance of this study is grounded in the contention that not enough is known about the specific experiences of Black female senior-level executives. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study was twofold. This study was to explore with 16 African American female executives the content of their experiences in corporations as well as the psychological structures they used to determine how they thought about their experiences.;Admitting they were often held to unusually stringent standards, the women in this study conveyed that authentic self, adding value, adaptability, and supports were the primary features of their career trajectory. The meaning they made of these strategies that forwarded and helped them maintain their careers emerged in three ways. Their meaning-making complexity ranged from partially socializing to fully self-authoring on Kegan's constructive developmental scale.;This dissertation concluded that Black female executives are not a monolith and their structures for making meaning influence the way they describe their careers. Furthermore, at least a partially self-authoring level of complexity helps guide and sustain Black female leaders at the upper echelons of corporations.