Faculty and Staff Grassroots Leaders‘ Beliefs About Power: Do Their Beliefs Affect Their Strategies and Effectiveness?

This study examines how grassroots leaders define and act on beliefs about and perceptions of power. In this article, we focus on the following research questions: RQ1. How do grassroots leaders understand and socially construct power?; and RQ2. How does their understanding of power impact their approach to grassroots leadership (e.g., strategies and ways they negotiate power)? The study is framed by reviewing literature from social movement theory related to power, including Marxist, Postmodern, and Tempered Radical frameworks. Three approaches emerged in the study: a) Confrontational narrative (resist and rebel against the oppressor); b) Tempered radical narrative (power conditions exist, but there is room to navigate); and c) Power as context narrative (issues of power are not relevant and tend to blend into the context). The discussion describes limitations identified with the confrontational and power as context approaches that limit their effectiveness. The study also provides empirical evidence for how people construct power and for the impacts of context and individual background on constructions of power.