A conservation of resources perspective on career hurdles and salary attainment

•This study is a quantitative review of predictors of salary attainments.•It uses the conservation of resources theory as the theoretical guide.•There are six groups of hurdles individuals face in their careers.•The meta-analysis is based on 339 empirical studies conducted in the past 50 years.•The findings suggest that multiple career hurdles contribute to lower salary.

Guided by conservation of resources theory, the present study examines six types of hurdles individuals face in their careers and how those hurdles impede the attainment of higher salaries. With a meta-analysis of 339 empirical studies conducted over the past 50 years, we observed that socio-demographic hurdles (e.g., being non-Caucasian), trait-related hurdles (e.g., low cognitive ability), motivational hurdles (e.g., being unwilling to relocate), skill-related hurdles (e.g., low levels of formal education), social environment hurdles (e.g., no mentors), and work environment hurdles (e.g., jobs with low control) all made it more difficult to command high salaries.