Ties That Lift and Bind: How Relationships Empower and Disempower Careers

In this research study we take a linked lives perspective and apply interdependence theory to explore how meaningful relationships impact individual career decisions over the life course. We conducted qualitative semi-structured interviews with 31 participants and analyzed the data in a thematic analysis procedure, taking a mixed approach where data was openly coded, a subset identified and isolated, classified into categories, and openly coded again. Our findings not only demonstrate how desirable and overall positive relationships can be empower individuals' careers (supporting, mentoring), but how they can also limit and disempower them (constraining, distracting). This study reopens a discussion on the role of relationships in careers, acknowledging the positive and negative aspects they may have, thus complementing the agentic perspective that is currently dominant in career theory. We provide empiric support to ideas that are often used in career counseling, identifying the individual's unique set of relationships and the impact they have.