Barriers and enablers to Asian-Australian professionals’ ascension to Australian corporate leadership: A research agenda

Extant management literature posits that professionals of Asian origin offer cultural diversity and exhibit a transformational leadership style that may strengthen the top-management-team (TMT) and enhance organisational resilience. However, in Australia, professionals of Asian origin are under-represented within corporate leadership. Through a critical review of literature, this paper explores the barriers and enablers that may explain this imbalance. Findings show that Australian leader hegemony, implicit leadership, and separation acculturation strategies adopted by Asian-Australian professionals themselves are the key barriers to their leadership ascension. To overcome these barriers, leaders should embed diversity-management strategies across their organisation. Additionally, changes in acculturation and self-promotion by Asian-Australian professionals can demonstrate their value at this level. Implications are drawn for future researchers and management practitioners.