Exploring leadership pathways for China-born faculty in American higher education

Abstract

There is a major participation gap in academic leadership positions for China-born faculty working in the U.S. higher education when compared to their Caucasian counterparts. Various factors may have contributed to this startling, disproportionately low representation of China-born faculty. The extant literature reveals a dearth of studies on research regarding the lived experiences of leadership pathways for China-born faculty in the U.S. Using criterion sampling, this interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) study identified three China-born faculty who once held and/or currently hold the role of department chair or director at a public research university in American Southwest and sought to understand their lived experiences on leadership pathways through semi-structured interviews and interpretations from their own perspectives. Their lived experiences revealed the impact of leadership development and leadership education on the leadership pathways. Five major themes emerged through an analysis of the data generated from the participants: (1) lack of formal leadership education; (2) limited leadership development opportunities; (3) low level of self-efficacy, self-awareness, self-study, and self-motivation; (4) unclear perception of good leaders; and (5) implicit biases, racial prejudice and model minority's myths. These findings provide insights on the leadership pathways specific to China-born faculty, especially those aspired to take on leadership roles and ranks. As they gain knowledge of leadership theories and practices and build confidences on leadership and leadership development, they would take on more and higher leadership positions, and therefore would help mitigate the alarming disparity in leadership participation rates between Caucasian faculty and China-born faculty. The findings would also help alleviate the faculty leadership diversity and retention problem at American higher education institutions, which are increasingly rely on foreign-born talents for highly trained faculty positions.--Author's abstract