Manifestations of leadership identity development among multicultural higher education students

Purpose This study aims to examine how leadership identity manifests at the individual and collective levels within a relational training context among a group of multicultural higher education students. Design/methodology/approach This is a case study and examines the interactions among eight multicultural students through the theoretical lens of leadership identity development (LID) theory. Findings The main findings of this study suggest that LID manifests through an open will and intensifying motivation to the collective impulse of achieving shared goals through nurturing the collective cognition to integrate diverse perspectives and a broadening view of leadership as a collective capacity for co-creation and generativity. Research limitations/implications Although the paper builds on a case study with a limited number of participants and the ability to generalise its findings is partial, the study may provide practical applications for training leadership in other collaborative contexts and supporting it at the individual and collective levels. Originality/value The LID theory and LID model have been applied simultaneously to a training lab to examine how LID manifests among a multicultural group of higher education students. The lab emphasises a participatory leadership-oriented pedagogy.