Model minority under Bamboo Ceiling: On the association between leadership development opportunities and task performance and helping behavior of Asian employees

Drawing from the self-affirmation theory, this research delves into the dynamics of why and how leadership development opportunity can boost Asian employees’ job performance in Western contexts. Specifically, we hypothesize that leadership development opportunity is positively related to Asian employees’ self-affirmation of core values, which further predicts higher task performance and the workplace helping behavior of these employees. Meanwhile, we propose that ethical identification strengthens the positive relationship between leadership development opportunity and self-affirmation of core values. A pilot study (N = 101) is conducted in Australia to uncover the positive association between leadership development opportunity and self-affirmation of core values among Asian employees. In our main study, using multi-wave (i.e. three time points) data focusing on full-time Asian–Australian employees (N = 436), we replicate the findings of the pilot study and find support for the full model. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.