Gendered executive headhunting with Chinese characteristics
研究中国猎头行业如何阻碍女性高管晋升，发现中国女性高管面临比西方更严峻的障碍，猎头强化男性化领导标准，反映儒家文化、竞争经济与封闭政治的交汇。
Abstract Women executives face many barriers to career advancement, which then limits the advancement of women lower down the hierarchy. This study looks at the secretive and elite world of executive search (headhunting) as a gatekeeping system that hinders women's career advancement in China. Interviews were carried out with headhunters in China, including two in Taiwan to test transferability. Findings of this study show that executive women in China face more stark barriers than their western peers. Headhunters report little influence over clients, but they help profile jobs that emphasize technical and masculine views of leadership, ‘fit’ and ‘chemistry’ in hiring decisions, reinforce stereotypes, and do not support candidates. Our findings reflect the convergence of Confucianism, a highly competitive economic model, and a closed political system with limited space to promote women's interests. Headhunting, an imported practice, illuminates western individualist models of feminism rather than China's traditional collectivism and local models of feminism.