Ethnic Diversity and Preferred Leadership Attributes: A Quantitative Analysis with Secondary Use of Qualitative Data

Abstract

The broad diversity and leadership landscape in the Canadian academic librarianship was assessed using a survey. The survey was designed using REDCap. It was piloted, translated into French, tested again, and electronically distributed via REDCap to English and French-speaking librarians across Canadian academic institutions. This paper represents a secondary analysis of collected data to determine whether the ethnic backgrounds of librarians have any influence on what they view as the most or least essential attributes in a leader. Secondary use of data means using data for a different purpose (from what it was collected for), sometimes by the same researcher to answer an additional or a new research question. Findings show a statistical significance between diversity and the leadership attribute “inspiring.” This study encourages future library leadership education curriculum, training programs, and diversity residency programs to include “how to inspire” in cross-cultural and ethnic minority leadership contexts.