Careers and career research in Germany: a literature review

The aim of this paper is to systematically analyze the German career related literature in order to identify the main research areas. The main step of our analysis comprises a qualitative, content-based analysis of selected publications in four well established German scientific journals within the time period 1990–2013. Six research areas can be identified from the literature review of 411 publications. Furthermore, the findings resulting from the review of German career related literature are comparatively discussed in the light of previous career research that has mainly flourished in the Anglo-American region. A dependency of careers and career research in Germany on institutional and contextual factors that are inherent to the German context is indicated. Finally, implications for research and practice as well as future research directions are derived from the literature review. © 2015, Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Austria.