Date

4-7-2026

Department

School of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD)

Chair

Benjamin Wood

Keywords

inclusive leadership, belongingness, racial dyads, racial dynamics, Leader-Member Exchange Theory (LMX)

Disciplines

Leadership Studies | Psychology

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of Inclusive Leadership (IL) on employees’ sense of belongingness (SB) with a focus on how racial dynamics between leaders and employees moderate this relationship. Anchored by the Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory, the study examined whether racial similarity influenced the relationship between IL and SB. A cross-sectional survey of N = 201 employed African American and Caucasian respondents across the United States who completed an Inclusive Leadership Scale and Workplace Belongingness Scale. Demographic information was collected to identify the employee race and leader-employee racial dyads. The hypotheses were assessed using moderated regression analysis (Process v5.0). There was a significant positive relationship between IL and SB, which supported H1.

However, leader race and leader-employee racial similarity did not significantly moderate their relationship, which did not support hypotheses 2 and 3. Findings suggest that IL behaviors consistently predict higher belongingness across all racial dyads. Results extend LMX because there is a universal positive effect on belongingness regardless of racial similarity or difference. The results contribute to LMX theory by underscoring the generalizability of leader-member exchanges and demonstrating that high-quality leader-member exchanges are characterized by inclusivity, fostering belongingness across diverse workplaces. The study highlighted the importance of developing IL competencies to strengthen SB and retention across diverse employee groups.

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