A review of fatherhood and employment: introducing new perspectives for management research

Abstract: In this review, we synthesise the growing body of interdisciplinary research on fatherhood and employment for the purpose of guiding future management studies research on the topic. We argue that shifts in research approaches and assumptions are required to fully understand the situation of contemporary employed fathers. Our review draws attention to four distinct but related lenses: work, family, and fatherhood; masculine hegemony and fatherhood; involved fathering; and diversity and fatherhood. Extant research on fatherhood and employment reflects often static notions about the ‘nuclear family,’ with expectations about paternal work orientation failing to reflect contemporary paternal experience. We introduce the sociological concept of ‘family practices’ as a means of shifting from traditional (wherein fathers are positioned as breadwinners and mothers as child-carers within heterosexual couples) to more fluid family forms that characterise 21st century ways of ‘doing fatherhood.’ Implications and avenues for future management studies research are discussed.