Antecedents of career success of African migrant workers in Europe: A 2011–2019 systematic literature review and future research agenda

Abstract

Although a significant portion of African migrants resides in Europe and contribute significantly to European economies, they are underrepresented in social sciences research. As a result, our understanding of the antecedents of their career success is limited. To address this gap, we aim to perform a systematic literature review of the antecedents of the career success of African migrants in Europe. We build upon the Career Resources Framework to organize and synthesize our findings drawn from 22 peer-reviewed articles published between 2011 and 2019 selected following the PRISMA method. Results revealed education, the host country's language skills, belonging to diverse social networks, stronger cultural competencies, and higher career clarity are positively associated with career success. However, African migrants experience the most severe labor market discrimination in terms of employment and career prospects in Europe which dramatically calls for further scholarly attention. We discuss the findings and outline future research agenda.