Abstract
Leadership development is a central objective of undergraduate business education, yet comparatively little attention has been given to how students experience the development of a leader identity. This Dissertation in Practice explores how traditional-aged, upper-division undergraduate business students make sense of their lived experience of multi-domain leader identity development. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how students experience a multi-domain approach to leader identity development through activities created to encourage reflection, interpretation, and integration of leadership experiences across multiple areas of life. Using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), the study explored how participants interpreted and assigned meaning to leadership experiences across personal, academic, community, and work contexts. Thirteen undergraduate business students participated in a structured leader identity development workshop based on a multi-domain leadership framework and then engaged in semi-structured interviews. Data sources included participant interviews, reflective survey responses, and researcher reflections. This Dissertation in Practice includes a review of relevant literature, a qualitative exploration of students’ experiences with multi-domain leader identity development, a submission-ready manuscript, and a practitioner recommendation plan focused on leadership education and professional practice.Keywords: leader identity development; undergraduate business education; multi-domain leadership; Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis; leadership education