External factors shaping careers

This chapter reviews recent research on the nature and operation of these “external” factors shaping careers, building upon earlier reviews that considered contextual factors in career research ( Mayrhofer et al., 2007 ; see also Chapter 17 , this volume). In doing this review, our goal is to outline and organize the many diverse external infl uences shaping careers, highlighting similarities and differences in these infl uences, and suggesting a framework for organizing and cumulating research in this broad domain. Research on external factors shaping careers takes place in several disciplines, including economics, industrial relations, management, psychology, and sociology. This disciplinary breadth ensures a rich set of theories, constructs, and mechanisms in use to describe external factors shaping careers – but at the same time, this diversity can also impede sharing and progression of research. Within this context, we hope that our review can help cross-fertilize research among the different perspectives present in this heterogeneous fi eld of scholarship, and even serve as a springboard for future work in the area.