ADHD, Impulsivity and Entrepreneurship

Recently, entrepreneurship scholars have started to show interest in how “negative” traits associated with mental disorders such as ADHD and dyslexia may have positive implications in entrepreneurship. While this research has the potential of reaching important and counterintuitive results, it is still in its infancy, and the causal mechanisms as to why those individuals would be attracted to entrepreneurship have received very limited attention. Consequently, we draw on the person-environment fit literature, proposing that individuals are attracted to and engage in entrepreneurship because the task environment of entrepreneurship greatly fit the traits of those individuals. We develop and test a model suggesting that ADHD influences entrepreneurship through the multifaceted trait of impulsivity. Our results highlight the importance of sensation seeking, lack of premeditation and urgency for entrepreneurial intention, and of sensation seeking for business startup. ADHD indirectly influences entrepreneurship through impulsivity.