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Doctoral Student in Educational Leadership and Management, Drexel University
Email:
sl3293@drexel.edu
le.sunny.916@gmail.com
LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/sunnyle

Please feel free to contact me or add me via linkedin :)

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First-generation Asian Americans experience some challenges in raising the ranks in a professional setting; nonetheless, a few individuals are successful in obtaining into positions of leadership. There is limited research on Asian Americans career development. Moreover, there is little research on first-generation Asian Americans. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences and perceptions of first-generation Asian Americans that successfully experienced climbing the career ladder.  This investigation sought to gain insight and an understanding of how first-generation Asian Americans climb the career ladder and the stories they bring into their career.

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Emerging first-generation Southeast Asian Americans who successfully navigated the career ladder into positions of leadership in a professional setting

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The purpose of this study is to explore the lived experiences and challenges faced by first generation Southeast Asian Americans as they seek career advancement and attain leadership positions within the career ladder.

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With the growing disproportion of Asian American managers to other races in the corporate sector, even fewer as executives, it’s a growing concern for the emerging Southeast Asian Americans entering the workforce in hopes of becoming leaders in their careers (Gee, Hom, Anand, 2014). The Southeast Asian Americans who are first-generation have even more barriers in climbing the corporate ladder as they are faced with influences of educational, acculturation, and self-identity (Finn, 2010; Tingvold, Middelthon, Allen, & Hauff, 2012). The few individuals. Additionally, there is limited research in this area of study.

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1.     How do first-generation Southeast Asian Americans describe their lived experiences in attaining positions of leadership?

2.     What are the forces that drive first-generation Southeast Asian Americans to attain positions of leadership?

3.     What challenges have Southeast Asian Americans faced in attaining leadership roles in professional career settings?

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A phenomenological approach was chosen for this qualitative study as it provides an appropriate foundation to guide the planned study.  Utilizing this approach, semi-structured interviews will be conducted on twelve to fifteen participants and will be audio recorded.  These participants will be in positions of leadership in a professional setting in the Norther California area. An instrument will be employed in a protocol to elicit answers surrounding the research questions. Moreover, the use of probing questions will be applied as needed to gather deep and rich perspectives from the subjects. Using the recorded audio, the interviews will be transcribed verbatim. The data from the interviews, transcriptions, and field notes will be stored securely, password secured, on an encrypted personal computer at the researcher’s home and not accessible to anyone but the researcher and the course instructor. Physical copies of the data will be securely locked in a file cabinet in the researcher’s home which is only accessible to the researcher and supervising professor. An analysis will be conducted to gather codes and themes that emerge from the data. These themes should align to the research questions.

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1.      Asian American Social Identity

2.      First-generation Americans

3.      Career/Leadership Development

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The limited sampling opportunities of First-generation Southeast Asian Americans in a successful leadership position are related to the generalization of this population. The study included professions in positions of leadership in the Northern California region. The participants of this study were selected through eliciting volunteers and snowballing that may have specific backgrounds and positions in the career ladder.  There is a possibility that the volunteers may have a variation in background and position that differs from the data-set soughts for.

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Acculturation

Defined by Herskovits (1937) as “groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous first-hand contact” (Herskovits, 1937, p. 259).

Asian

Described as “A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam” (U.S. Census, 2013).

Asia-Pacific

Described as the countries that are surrounded by the Pacific Ocean by APCSS and APEC. These associated countries may vary by studies; nonetheless, they include the country origin of the research.

Assimilation

Described Milton (1961) as a blanket statement for an overview of sub processes with the main process as “the absorption of the culture behavior patterns of the host society” (Milton, 1961, p. 279).
First-Generation

Designating the first of a generation to be born in a country of parents who had immigrated.

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The next steps in this study is to complete a pilot study on this planned research to further develop the research questions and narrow down the research proposal. Through this, the process will be assessed to examine the literature as well as the focus of research.