Multicultural Competence and Leadership Educators
Previous research examining the relationship between multicultural competence and the
specific practices of leadership educators provides evidence to support intentionality in design of
leadership programs. Specifically, the study looked at the relationship between multicultural
competence of leadership educators and their use of the Social Change Model of Leadership
Development (Wilson, 2012). To briefly summarize, this investigation determined there was a
significant correlation between the multicultural competence (MCSA-P2, Pope & Mueller, 2000)
of leadership educators and their use of the Social Change Model as a framework for program
development. That is to say, leadership educators who used the Social Change Model
demonstrated higher levels of multicultural competence than those who did not use any model.
This evidence may support a connection between the diverse values of the model and the
personal values of the leadership educator. More broadly, the study demonstrated that use of the
Social Change Model in addition to another model or framework resulted in statistically
significant higher levels of multicultural competence overall. The relationship between the use
of a framework and level of multicultural competence may also indicate a level of intentionality
in program design, reflective of the capacity and preparedness of the leadership educator. These
results have several possible implications for leadership educators, particularly as they relate to
the intentional and inclusive design of leadership programs that allow for students to engage in
cross-cultural conversations and to explore aspects of self and others.
A more detailed examination of the structure and design of leadership programs, as well
as the ways in which multicultural issues are addressed in leadership programs may provide
additional insight on the multicultural competence of student affairs professionals responsible for
designing and implementing leadership programs. Specifically, this paper will address the
following two research questions:
• What is the variance in multicultural competence of leadership educators based on the
identified structure and elements of their leadership program?
• What is the variance in multicultural competence of leadership educators based on the
ways in which they address diversity issues in their leadership program?