Abstract
While diversity, inclusion, and leadership shape individual behaviors and organizational culture, historically they have been researched as independent theoretical streams. Examining these lines has been fruitful to advance our understanding of diversity, inclusion, and leadership separately; however, we lack an understanding of how leaders understand and engage in inclusive leadership. Thus, this study explores how college sport leaders make sense of and enact inclusive leadership. Through 16 semi-structured interviews with senior-level athletic administrators we constructed four themes: fostering employees’ uniqueness, strengthening team belongingness, learning centered development, and actioning values-based care. This work both bolsters and extends Korkmaz and colleagues’ (2022) framework by introducing learning centered development and actioning values-based care themes. These two themes illustrate the need for leaders to continually learn and grow to reduce bias and align personal, professional, and organizational values to create inclusive spaces. Theoretical and practical implications for sport researchers and practitioners to intentionally invite, create, and hold more inclusive spaces for employees are discussed.
Recommended Citation
Taylor, Elizabeth; Dahlin, Sean; Wells, Janelle; and Gray, Erika
(2025)
"Exploring Sport Leaders’ Sensemaking and Enactment of Inclusive Leadership,"
Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics: Vol. 18:
Iss.
1, Article 24.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.51221/sc.jiia.2025.18.1.24
Available at:
https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/jiia/vol18/iss1/24