Housing Careers and Housing Pathways: Conceptual Evolution or Confusion?

Abstract

ABSTRACT The use of housing career and housing pathways concepts has increased over the past several decades. The two concepts have shared origins in housing research but have different theoretical foundations. Housing careers and housing pathways concepts are defined as synonyms, distinctly different but complementary, and incompatible concepts. While the lack of shared definitions is common in interdisciplinary research, it may result in a fragmented knowledge base and hindrance to theory development and use. This research uses concept analysis to examine definitions of the concepts of housing career and housing pathways provided in the literature between 2001 and 2020. The analysis findings suggest that the concepts have both shared and unique attributes. However, concept definitions were missing or inconsistent across the literature, and distinctions between housing career and housing pathways concepts were often unclear. Grounding concepts in theory appears to result in greater concept definition consistency.