The ‘bounded' career: An empirical study of human capital, career mobility and employment outcomes in a mediated labour market
研究认为职业是“有界”而非“无界”的，通过IT行业数据发现，求职者与招聘中介的历史关系比职业人力资本更能影响获得面试机会，且过往职业流动对永久职位有负面影响。
Many scholarly attempts to ascribe meaning to contemporary employment have adopted terms such as ‘new’ or ‘boundaryless’ careers.We argue that it makes more sense to conceptualize careers as ‘bounded’ than as ‘boundaryless’. We argue that careers are bounded by prior career history, occupational identity and by institutional constraints imposed by ‘gatekeepers’ to job opportunities. We present an empirical study of employment outcomes in a mediated labour market. Drawing on placement history and CV data from IT professionals, we examine the impact of occupation-specific human capital, prior career mobility and agency relationships on the probability of being shortlisted for a vacancy. We find that a candidate's prior history with the recruitment agency is a more important factor than occupation-specific human capital in determining access to job vacancies, indicating that intermediaries structure labour market opportunities. Even in a high-turnover industry, prior career mobility has a negative effect on access to permanent vacancies.