Experiences of Underrepresentation in Corporate America: Chinese American Stories of Tackling the Bamboo Ceiling

Asian Americans have been and continue to be subjected to significant discrimination, projection, and bias in the United States across context, place, and sector, which includes education and corporate contexts. The model minority stereotype fosters the belief that Asian Americans are collectively smart and successful. However, whereas Asian Americans are seen as successful in academics, there is limited scholarly attention paid to the bamboo ceiling, identity-based trauma, and biases that accompany discriminatory processes and norms in professional contexts. Asian Americans encounter multiple barriers to obtaining high-level leadership roles despite superb education and training qualifications. This qualitative study explored the experiences of Chinese American leaders to understand their professional experiences and trajectories in the context of identity-based obstacles to corporate advancement. Critical Race Theory (CRT) and implicit and explicit bias theory served as the study’s theoretical framework. This study was based on one-on-one interviews with a pilot sample of 20 C-suite occupants and high-potential employees (HiPos) and should be followed by a more focused study involving 100 participants. The study found that even though all Chinese Americans are underrepresented, first-generation Chinese Americans are the most disadvantaged. The respondents revealed awareness of microaggressions and indirect discrimination, but most brushed them off or accepted them as the norm. They attributed most blame for Chinese Americans’ lack of leadership positions on a failure to speak up, be assertive, or develop soft skills and recommended Chinese Americans to address these through strategic posturing, networking, mentorship, assertiveness, and carefully choosing their employers