diff --git a/plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-lambda/src/instrumentation.ts b/plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-lambda/src/instrumentation.ts
index c113723305..6178130bb4 100644
--- a/plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-lambda/src/instrumentation.ts
+++ b/plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-lambda/src/instrumentation.ts
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import {
   TextMapGetter,
   TraceFlags,
   TracerProvider,
+  ROOT_CONTEXT,
 } from '@opentelemetry/api';
 import {
   AWSXRAY_TRACE_ID_HEADER,
@@ -375,7 +376,7 @@ export class AwsLambdaInstrumentation extends InstrumentationBase {
     }
     if (!parent) {
       // No context in Lambda environment or HTTP headers.
-      return otelContext.active();
+      return ROOT_CONTEXT;
     }
     return parent;
   }
diff --git a/plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-lambda/test/integrations/lambda-handler.test.ts b/plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-lambda/test/integrations/lambda-handler.test.ts
index 36ea4af4df..313f4f33ea 100644
--- a/plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-lambda/test/integrations/lambda-handler.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/node/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aws-lambda/test/integrations/lambda-handler.test.ts
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ import {
   SpanKind,
   SpanStatusCode,
   TextMapPropagator,
+  ROOT_CONTEXT,
 } from '@opentelemetry/api';
 import { AWSXRayPropagator } from '@opentelemetry/propagator-aws-xray';
 import { W3CTraceContextPropagator } from '@opentelemetry/core';
@@ -624,6 +625,37 @@ describe('lambda handler', () => {
       );
       assert.strictEqual(span.parentSpanId, sampledGenericSpanContext.spanId);
     });
+
+    it('creates trace from ROOT_CONTEXT when "disableAwsContextPropagation" is true, eventContextExtractor is provided, and no custom context is found', async () => {
+      process.env[traceContextEnvironmentKey] = sampledAwsHeader;
+      const customExtractor = (event: any): OtelContext => {
+        if (!event.contextCarrier) {
+          return ROOT_CONTEXT;
+        }
+
+        return propagation.extract(context.active(), event.contextCarrier);
+      };
+
+      initializeHandler('lambda-test/async.handler', {
+        disableAwsContextPropagation: true,
+        eventContextExtractor: customExtractor,
+      });
+
+      const testSpan = provider.getTracer('test').startSpan('random_span');
+      await context.with(
+        trace.setSpan(context.active(), testSpan),
+        async () => {
+          await lambdaRequire('lambda-test/async').handler(
+            { message: 'event with no context' },
+            ctx
+          );
+        }
+      );
+
+      const spans = memoryExporter.getFinishedSpans();
+      const [span] = spans;
+      assert.strictEqual(span.parentSpanId, undefined);
+    });
   });
 
   describe('hooks', () => {