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Dueling Banjos: Harmony and Discord between ADHD and Entrepreneurship
... In fact, provide counterarguments to the negativity of impulsivity of those with ADHD by arguing that the entrepreneurial context is particularly favorable for individuals high in impulsivity, and that impulsivity can actually contribute to opportunity discovery, evaluation, and exploitation. Finally, in that same symposium, Lerner et al. (2018a) offer a dualistic framework that explores possible advantages of brain-functionality differences at some points of the entrepreneurial process that could be disadvantages at other points. Our findings contribute to this burgeoning literature by examining the ADHD-entrepreneurship link in terms of cognition. ...
... Findings from extant entrepreneurship research indicates that individuals with ADHD are more likely to self-select new business venturing because entrepreneurial environments are attractive to individuals with ADHD (Lerner et al., 2018a). These entrepreneurial environments align speed of action with the unique traits of these individuals (Wiklund et al., 2017). ...
... Reduced inhibitory control in individuals with ADHD is generally viewed as an impairment in many academic, occupational, and social situations (Kessler et al., 2006). However, in creative work contexts, empirical research suggests ADHD is positively associated with aspects of creativity, specifically in terms of the generation, combination, and implementation of new ideas (White & Shah, 2011), and these aspects of creativity are positively associated with entrepreneurship (Brophy, 2001;Lerner et al., 2018a) and workplace innovation (Schweizer, 2006). For individuals with ADHD, these aspects of creativity arise because divergent concepts, ideas, or information are not inhibited by executive functions, especially in working memory (Brown, 2013). ...
To better understand how neurodiversity (i.e., neurobiological/brain-related differences) is related to entrepreneurial cognition, this study draws on prior research from entrepreneurship and neuroscience to empirically examine the relationship between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and the entrepreneurial mindset. We examine differences between entrepreneurs with and without ADHD in cognitive style, entrepreneurial alertness, metacognition, and resource-induced coping heuristic (RICH). Our results suggest neurodiversity from ADHD is meaningfully related to aspects of an entrepreneurial mindset. Our results suggest entrepreneurs with ADHD employ a more intuitive cognitive style and demonstrate higher levels of entrepreneurial alertness and RICH, while no significant differences in metacognition were found.
... In fact, provide counterarguments to the negativity of impulsivity of those with ADHD by arguing that the entrepreneurial context is particularly favorable for individuals high in impulsivity, and that impulsivity can actually contribute to opportunity discovery, evaluation, and exploitation. Finally, in that same symposium, Lerner et al. (2018a) offer a dualistic framework that explores possible advantages of brain-functionality differences at some points of the entrepreneurial process that could be disadvantages at other points. Our findings contribute to this burgeoning literature by examining the ADHD-entrepreneurship link in terms of cognition. ...
... Findings from extant entrepreneurship research indicates that individuals with ADHD are more likely to self-select new business venturing because entrepreneurial environments are attractive to individuals with ADHD (Lerner et al., 2018a). These entrepreneurial environments align speed of action with the unique traits of these individuals (Wiklund et al., 2017). ...
... Reduced inhibitory control in individuals with ADHD is generally viewed as an impairment in many academic, occupational, and social situations (Kessler et al., 2006). However, in creative work contexts, empirical research suggests ADHD is positively associated with aspects of creativity, specifically in terms of the generation, combination, and implementation of new ideas (White & Shah, 2011), and these aspects of creativity are positively associated with entrepreneurship (Brophy, 2001;Lerner et al., 2018a) and workplace innovation (Schweizer, 2006). For individuals with ADHD, these aspects of creativity arise because divergent concepts, ideas, or information are not inhibited by executive functions, especially in working memory (Brown, 2013). ...
... As a neurobehavioral developmental disorder that is generally considered an impediment for occupational performance (Andersen, 2015;Fletcher, 2014), ADHD is increasingly attracting attention from researchers in the entrepreneurship domain (Antshel, 2018). Entrepreneurship scholars have proposed self-employment as a potentially attractive career option for individuals who are diagnosed with ADHD (Lerner, Hunt, & Verheul, 2018;Wiklund, Patzelt, & Dimov, 2016) or who experience its symptoms to a large extent (Lerner, Verheul, & Thurik, 2019;Verheul et al., 2016). Characteristics such as creativity, the willingness to take risks, and flexibility, among others, may contribute to an appealing person-environment fit between ADHD and self-employment (Antshel, 2018). ...
... Second, the self-employed face a variety of day-to-day, medium-term, and long-term volatility in firm activities. Proposing a balanced approach to benefits and costs of ADHD conditional on the life cycle stage of a venture, Lerner et al. (2018) explain that while ADHD could be central to overcoming early inhibition in starting a venture, during the later stages of a firm life cycle it could be a liability. Planning, resource orchestration, developing and delivering a consistent message for stakeholders (Sirmon, Hitt, Ireland, & Gilbert, 2011) are some of the challenges that could make ADHD a liability during this stage. ...
Recent studies have shown that individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are relatively often engaged in self-employment. We analyze whether self-employment mediates the relationship between ADHD and earnings. To overcome endogeneity concerns in the estimation of this relationship, we use the polygenic risk score (PRS) for ADHD. In our longitudinal sample of 7,905 individuals (50–65 years old) from the Health and Retirement Study, a standard deviation increase in the PRS for ADHD increases the odds of self-employment by 32% and decreases yearly earnings by 5%. Self-employment explains (mediates) 59% of the negative relationship between the PRS for ADHD and earnings.
... The perception of and reaction to stimuli associated with developing entrepreneurial intentions, versus actually attempting to start a venture, versus ultimately generating sustained entrepreneurial profit are apt to differentially involve behavioral inhibition and behavioral activation systems (cf. Lerner et al., 2018b). For example, in terms of entrepreneurial intentions in individuals with no prior venturing experience, Geenen and colleagues (2016) found that reward responsiveness (BAS-RR) was negatively related to entrepreneurial intentions, while fun seeking (BAS-FS) was positively associated with entrepreneurial intentions. ...
... This makes sense given, respectively, the immediacy of rewards in wage-employment and the thrilling idea of venturing (e.g., Baron 2007). Yet to take action under uncertainty -on multiple fronts ranging from creative prototyping, to raising finance, to dealing with regulations, to recruiting employees and so forth (Hatak & Snellman, 2017;Lerner et al., 2018b) -different sensitives may be more relevant, such as high BAS-Drive. Finally, given competitive pressures and that entrepreneurial rents do not last indefinitely, what serves long- term venture performance: a desire for new rewards (BAS-FS) while also keeping at the currently rewarding opportunity (BAS-RR), high drive (BAS-D), and/or a sufficiently limited sensitivity to threat to be willing to take the risk of innovation (low BIS)? ...
... suggest, will demand a clear articulation of what it means to engage in unreasoned action, a specification of its epistemological foundations, and a demarcation of whether unreasoned action is trait-based and ever-present (because of, for example, severe ADHD, see Lerner et al., 2018b) or alternatively more situational (where actors sometimes act disinhibited but other times are quite restrained, similar to the work on situational optimism in Wood, Bradley & Artz, 2015). 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 ...
... A focus on context also drove Antshel's (2018) realization that there is a paucity of research on how mental disorders fit in with occupational environments. Lerner, Hunt, and Verheul (2018) dwelled on context too, interpreting the life cycle of business venturing as influenced by attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). More generally, the mental disorder 1 It is crucial to get the causality right here. ...
Psychiatry as a medical science has debunked contextual definitions of disorders for a good reason. This exchange article seeks to assist entrepreneurship scholars in assessing the risks of building scholarship upon a notion that has proved to be problematic. Thus, four reasons why entrepreneurship scholars may want to distance themselves from contextual definitions of mental disorders are expounded on: 1) contextual definitions have proved to be transient, and scholars may wish a more solid basis for their contributions if they are to be long-lived; 2) the recent history of psychiatry shows how the mind can be manipulated by partisan interests if contextual definitions are not anchored to mechanisms that can be studied by science; 3) it is desirable to be cautious about underestimating the negative consequences for disordered individuals, despite apparent positive circumstances offered by narrow occupational contexts; and finally, and most importantly, 4) the dysfunctional nature of some conditions remains disputable given psychiatry’s state of the art, which may lead in the future to the realization that some of today’s presumptive mental disorders are after all natural psychological phenotypic evolutionary adaptations.
... Separately,Lindová et al., (2010) showed that TG infected individuals may have an increased tendency of being generous which can be beneficial to form reciprocal relationships or might help in building entrepreneurial networks, either of which can help performance. Thus, TG might, on-average, be positively connected with venture performance.On the other hand: unstable execution or excessive risk-taking can diminish performance per strategic mistakes (e.g.,Denrell & Liu, 2012), or interfere with organizing and capturing value (cf.Lerner et al., 2018b). Similarly, other changes caused by TG infections such as increased neuroticism(Flegr, 2007; may have a negative effect on the ability of a given entrepreneur to successfully manage their venture. ...
There is growing evidence that human biology and behavior are influenced by infectious microorganisms. One such microorganism is the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii ( TG). Using longitudinal data covering the female population of Denmark, we extend research on the relationship between TG infection and entrepreneurial activity and outcomes. Results indicate that TG infection is associated with a subsequent increase in the probability of becoming an entrepreneur, and is linked to other outcomes including venture performance. With parasite behavioral manipulation antithetical to rational judgment, we join a growing conversation on biology and alternative drivers of business venturing.
... Separately,Lindová et al., (2010) showed that TG infected individuals may have an increased tendency of being generous which can be beneficial to form reciprocal relationships or might help in building entrepreneurial networks, either of which can help performance. Thus, TG might, on-average, be positively connected with venture performance.On the other hand: unstable execution or excessive risk-taking can diminish performance per strategic mistakes (e.g.,Denrell & Liu, 2012), or interfere with organizing and capturing value (cf.Lerner et al., 2018b). Similarly, other changes caused by TG infections such as increased neuroticism(Flegr, 2007; may have a negative effect on the ability of a given entrepreneur to successfully manage their venture. ...
There is growing evidence that human biology and behavior is influenced by infectious microorganisms. One such microorganism is the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii (TG). Using longitudinal data covering the female population of Denmark, we extend research on the relationship between TG infection and entrepreneurial activity and outcomes. Results indicate that TG infection is associated with a subsequent increase in the probability of becoming an entrepreneur, and is linked to other outcomes including venture performance. With parasite behavioral manipulation antithetical to rational judgement, we join a growing conversation on biology and alternative drivers of business venturing.
[ Note: the Article can be found at
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338857788_Nothing_Ventured_Nothing_Gained_Parasite_Infection_is_Associated_with_Entrepreneurial_Initiation_Engagement_and_Performance ]
... Building on prior research, this elucidates that a dark and pathologized condition can serve as a wellspring for entrepreneurial action. Certainly, future research is needed examining entrepreneurial action at a much more granular level, and the eventual outcomes of such action beyond the nascent stage ( Lerner, Hunt, & Verheul, 2017). None the less, without entrepreneurial action "there would simply be no entrepreneurship and no new ventures" ( Baron, 2007: 167); furthermore, given the myriad unproductive and destructive behaviors also linked to ADHD, entrepreneurial action may be a constructive outlet regardless of whether a venture is ultimately founded and successful. ...
Entrepreneurs are modern heroes. What explains their extraordinary popularity? We argue that there are no measurable success factors that predict entrepreneurial mastery. Instead, it is the goal of upholding the entrepreneurial ideology that ensures that those who are successful are celebrated as entrepreneurial role models. We recap the assumptions of the entrepreneurial ideology that sparks the wish to become a successful entrepreneur in many people. The reason to be against the over-glorification of entrepreneurship is that the promises often do not hold; startups neither considerably contribute to economic prosperity nor do they usually make people rich. Accordingly, we critically reflect on research that tries to find the success recipe of entrepreneurship. We also discuss whether a focus on entrepreneurial teams could serve as a remedy.
[forthcoming in Journal of Business Venturing Insights https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1Y3k~8MxvtNisU]
This article elaborates on a lively and rapidly evolving conversation central to entrepreneurship: the underpinnings of entrepreneurial action. In particular, we respond to a critique published in this journal by Brown, Packard, and Bylund (BPB), in which they argue that all EA is based on intendedly-rational judgment. The empirical reality of rational, deliberative intentionality in entrepreneurship is beyond dispute and we have argued that behavioral logics do not simply supplant intendedly-rational ones. However, mounting evidence suggests that the wide-spectrum framework developed by Lerner, Hunt and Dimov (2018) – ranging from impulse-driven, a-rational action to deeply deliberative, rational action – offers a more veridical and useful perspective. Although BPB’s critique succeeds in underscoring the exciting challenges facing entrepreneurship scholars; in our view, the critique largely relies on philosophical argumentation and definitional boundary-setting that are inconsistent with decades of scientific advancement in the psychological sciences. Given this, and recent empirical evidence from entrepreneurship scholars, we think it would be counter-productive to consider entrepreneurship as the sole domain of human activity completely circumscribed by rational judgment.
***
Lerner, D., Hunt, R., & Dimov, D. (2018). Action! Moving Beyond the Intendedly-Rational Logics of Entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 33(1), 52-69.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2017.10.002
At small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), cash-strapped employees frequently
request loans from employers because they cannot obtain money on reasonable
terms elsewhere for exigent needs. In turn, employers decide whether to lend the money
through formal (i.e., written, contractual) loans or more informal “off-the-book” (OTB)
loans. Our exploration of this understudied source of credit unearths important questions
about the reasons employers lend money to employees, the manner in which they decide
to make formal or informal loans, and the coveted benefits employers derive from lending
to their workers. Considering the pervasiveness and significance of loan choices among
small firms, and the absence of studies on the topic, we tackle these questions through
an analysis of 459 informal and formal loans issued by 83 small business owners to their
employees. The results show that the issuance of OTB loans is a key tactic for employers
to manage resource dependencies with valued workers.
Prior studies find sizable gaps between entrepreneurial intentions and subsequent actions. We extend models of entrepreneurial intentions by drawing on action phase theory to better understand how entrepreneurial intentions translate into actions. Our study focuses on the effects of implementation intentions on taking entrepreneurial action. The analysis uses two waves of survey data on 422 individuals, from the Swedish general population, who had an explicit interest in starting a business and who reported on their actions 6 months later. We test and find support for a moderated mediation model in which implementation intentions mediate the effects of goal intentions on taking entrepreneurial action. We further find the mediated effect to be even stronger for those confirming a strong intention to start a new business. We provide an in-depth discussion of the concept of implementation intention and an extensive research agenda.
Purpose
One of the crucial questions confronting strategy and entrepreneurship scholars continues to be: where do new industry sectors come from? Extant literature suffers from a supply-side “skew” that focuses unduly on the role of heroic figures and celebrity CEOs, at the expense of demand-side considerations. In response, the purpose of this paper is to examine societal demand for entrepreneurial innovations. Employing historical data spanning nearly a century, the author assess more completely the role of latent demand-side signaling in driving the quantity and diversity of entrepreneurial innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
Applying the methods of historical econometrics, this study employs historical artifacts and cliometric models to analyze textual data in drawn from three distinctive sources: Popular Science Monthly magazine, from its founding in 1872 to 1969; periodicals, newsletters, club minutes, films and radio transcripts from the Science Society, from 1921 to 1969; and programs and news accounts from the US National High School Science Fair, from 1950 to 1969. In total, 2,084 documents containing 33,720 articles and advertisements were coded for content related to pure science, applied science and commercialized science.
Findings
Three key findings are revealed: vast opportunity spaces often exist prior to being occupied by individuals and firms; societal preferences play a vital role in determining the quantity and diversity of entrepreneurial activity; and entrepreneurs who are responsive to latent demand-side signals are likely to experience greater commercial success.
Research limitations/implications
This study intentionally draws data from three markedly different textual sources. The painstaking process of triangulation reveals heretofore unobserved latencies that invite fresh perspectives on innovation discovery and diffusion.
Originality/value
This paper constitutes the most panoramic investigation to-date of the influence wielded by latent demand-side forces in the discovery and commercialization of innovation.
Entrepreneurial action is central to entrepreneurship theory, and is broadly seen to arise as a consequence of intendedly rational logics (whether causal or effectual), reflecting reasoned judgment. But, is this always the case? While entrepreneurial action may often be the result of a judgmental decision (between alternative courses of action/inaction), the presumption that reasoned judgment encompasses all the motives, modes and mechanisms leading to entrepreneurial outcomes seems dubious. Building on an emerging literature that seeks to address the boundaries of reasoned entrepreneurial action, we develop the notion that non-deliberative impulse-driven behavioral logics can also be the basis for business venturing. Our framework offers a complementary perspective to the intendedly-rational, deliberate logics perspective, opening novel pathways for future research and theory-building.
What’s better: a higher volume of more impulsive and error prone decisions and actions, or a lower volume that is more accurate? This tradeoff has received extensive scholarly attention, but not in entrepreneurship, although the tradeoff is salient in this context. We build an agent-based simulation model, validated with PSED data, to examine the conditions under which impulsivity is (mal)adaptive. Our experimental results suggest that impulsive entrepreneurs are relatively less likely to successfully start a business irrespective of environmental uncertainty or munificence. However, of the entrepreneurs that emerge, the impulsive ones show somewhat larger growth on average and are four times more likely to achieve outlier growth. Thus, it seems that impulsivity has strategic utility for growth, but not organizational emergence.
Impulsive individuals are attracted to uncertain contexts, such as entrepreneurship, and are more likely to act despite this uncertainty. Thus, impulsivity may represent an asset in entrepreneurship. This paper outlines a conceptual framework and develops detailed propositions for the multifaceted influence of impulsivity on entrepreneurial action. It moves beyond entrepreneurship as a deliberate cognitive process to sufficiently account for how uncertainty influences action. In so doing, this paper constitutes a counterweight to the extensive examinations of positive personal attributes in entrepreneurship research. It also suggests a context in which a common trait with strong negative connotations may be advantageous.
Keywords:
Impulsivity; entrepreneurship; uncertainty
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test the theory that new industry entrants hold advantages over incumbents in the shift from unidirectional to multi-directional revenue streams.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a Cobb-Douglas production function, modified to isolate returns to innovation, the authors examine data from three separate contexts: steamships on Western US rivers (1810-1860), satellite-based internet services (1962-2010) and food waste recycling (1995-2015).
Findings
The results reveal that while incumbents often attempt to stretch existing technologies to fit emerging circumstances, entrepreneurial innovators achieve greater success by approaching multi-directional value creation as a distinct challenge, one requiring new technologies, organizational forms and business models. Existing theories have primarily attributed incumb ent inertia to a firm’s inability perceive and pursue radical innovations, the results also suggest that existing firms are unwilling to pursue innovations that are likely to erode the marginal profitability of their respective business models. Ironically, rather than protecting incumbents’ financial interests, the authors find that “marginal reasoning” can lead to diminished performance and even extinction.
Research limitations/implications
The proposed framework and empirical findings have implications for numerous multi-directional frontiers, including: social networking, commercial space travel, distance education and medical treatments using nanoscale technologies.
Practical implications
While incumbents often lament the destabilizing effects of multi-directionality, new and small firms enjoy a compelling array of entry points and opportunities.
Originality/value
Scholars, incumbent firms and start-ups both benefit from insights stemming from the novel formulation of multi-directionality challenges and opportunities.
This study examined nascent entrepreneurship by comparing individuals engaged in nascent activities (n = 452), after screening a sample from the general population (n=30,427). Due to the large sample size and the utilization of a control group of non-entrepreneurs (n=608), the findings of this study present a new approach to the relationship between human capital, social capital and entrepreneurship. Our primary objective was to help close the significant research gap regarding the sociological characteristics of nascent entrepreneurs, as well as to examine the comparative importance of various contributions and factors, such as personal networks and business classes. Having friends in business and being encouraged by them was a strong predictor regarding who among the general population eventually engaged in nascent activity. The study fails to support the role of formal education in predicting either nascent entrepreneurship or comparative success, when success is measured in terms of the three defined activities — creating a business plan, registering the business, or obtaining the first sale. Of particular note was that attending business classes specifically designed to promote entrepreneurship failed to be associated with successful business paths. This research suggests that national governments considering intervention activities might be wiser to focus on structural relationships than on programs specifically targeted to promote certain entrepreneurial activities. The facilitation of entrepreneurial social capital should be more successful if agencies filter their assistance through previous existing social networks. In addition, our findings suggest that countries that lack a very highly educated population may not be at a particular disadvantage regarding entrepreneurial activities.
Objective:
Suboptimal decision making in the face of risk (DMR) in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be mediated by deficits in a number of different neuropsychological processes. We investigated DMR in children with ADHD using the Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT) to distinguish difficulties in adjusting to changing probabilities of choice outcomes (so-called risk adjustment) from general risk proneness, and to distinguish these 2 processes from delay aversion (the tendency to choose the least delayed option) and impairments in the ability to reflect on choice options. Based on previous research, we predicted that suboptimal performance on this task in children with ADHD would be primarily relate to problems with risk adjustment and delay aversion rather than general risk proneness.
Method:
Drug naïve children with ADHD (n = 36), 8 to 12 years, and an age-matched group of typically developing children (n = 34) performed the CGT.
Results:
As predicted, children with ADHD were not more prone to making risky choices (i.e., risk proneness). However, they had difficulty adjusting to changing risk levels and were more delay aversive-with these 2 effects being correlated.
Conclusions:
Our findings add to the growing body of evidence that children with ADHD do not favor risk taking per se when performing gambling tasks, but rather may lack the cognitive skills or motivational style to appraise changing patterns of risk effectively. (PsycINFO Database Record
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity (ADHD) symptoms have been associated with the decision to become self-employed. Although these symptoms are generally regarded as disadvantageous, there may also be a bright side. To our knowledge, however, there has been no systematic, epidemiological evidence to support this claim. This paper examines the association between ADHD symptoms and self-employment in a population-based sample from the STAGE cohort of the Swedish Twin Registry (N = 7208). For replication, we used a sample of Dutch students who participated in the Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students' Survey (N = 13,112). In the Swedish sample, we found a positive association with self-employment for both general ADHD symptoms [odds ratio (OR) 1.13; 95 % confidence intervals (CI) 1.04-1.23] and hyperactivity symptoms [OR 1.19; 95 % CI 1.08-1.32], whereas no association was found for attention-deficit symptoms [OR 0.99; 95 % CI 0.89-1.10]. The positive association between hyperactivity and self-employment was replicated in the Dutch student sample [OR 1.09; 95 % CI 1.03-1.15]. Our results show that certain aspects of ADHD, in particular hyperactivity, can have a bright side, as they are positively associated with self-employment.
Previous research on reading disabilities (RD) has primarily focused on the cause and expression of the disability. The vast majority of this research has focused on the disorder itself, although it has been proposed that RD embodies other qualities not necessarily related to language or reading deficits. In fact, strengths in nonverbal processing and visual-spatial talents have been proposed to exist in persons with RD. However, the limited empirical data on this matter have yielded inconsistent results. The purpose of this review was to examine this literature, focusing on research concerning dynamic and complex spatial processing or reasoning in people with dyslexia. Our review suggests that there is little evidence in support of a spatial advantage in people with dyslexia, and, in fact, the data show that RD samples most often perform worse or equal to non-RD samples. An exception to this general conclusion may be performance on holistic visualization of complex figures, where RD samples have consistently demonstrated faster response times even though accuracy rates often do not exceed that of controls. The possibility of a unique spatial processing neurology that develops through right-left hemisphere interactions in persons with RD is discussed based on preliminary fMRI data.
This paper constitutes the first comprehensive attempt to define and assess entrepreneurship as an industry, and is the only study to date to empirically evaluate the extent to which the Entrepreneurship Industry (EI) is associated with entrepreneurial actions and outcomes. EI is defined as the goods and services explicitly intended for opportunity discovery and development by current and prospective entrepreneurs, an industry exceeding $12 billion in annual revenue. In order to assess EI’s influence, we employ a matched set comparison of EI consumers and non-consumers, which reveals that high levels of EI consumption are associated with an increase in entrepreneurial activity but a decrease in performance and survival prospects. The findings enrich existing frameworks related to the ways in which entrepreneurial contexts influence opportunity identification, development and exploitation.
How do founding team members allocate task positions when launching new ventures?
Answering this question is important because prior work shows both that founding team
members often have correlated expertise, thus making task position allocation problematic;
and initial occupants of task positions exert a lingering effect on venture outcomes. We draw
on status characteristics theory to derive predictions on how co-founders’ specific expertise
cues and diffuse status cues drive initial task position allocation. We also examine the
performance consequences of mismatches between the task position and position occupant.
Qualitative fieldwork combined with a quasi-experimental simulation game and an experiment
provides causal tests of the conceptual framework. We find that co-founders whose diffuse
status cues of gender (male), ethnicity (white) or achievement (occupational prestige or
academic honors) indicated general ability were typical occupants of higher ranked positions,
such as CEO role, within the founding team. In addition, specific expertise cues that indicated
relevant ability predicted task position allocation. Founding teams created more financially
valuable ventures when task position occupants’ diffuse status cues were typical for the
position; nonetheless position occupants with high diffuse status cues also appropriated more
of the created value. Our results inform both entrepreneurship and status characteristics
literature.
Avaible online: http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/amp.2013.0107
Although failure in entrepreneurship is pervasive, theory often reflects an equally pervasive antifailure bias. Here, I use real options reasoning to develop a more balanced perspective on the role of entrepreneurial failure in wealth creation, which emphasizes managing uncertainty by pursuing high-variance outcomes but investing only if conditions are favorable. This can increase profit potential while containing costs. I also offer propositions that suggest how gains from entrepreneurship may be maximized and losses mitigated.
Little is known about the relation between entrepreneurship and the extent of psychiatric symptoms. Validated psychiatric symptom scores are seldom used for non-clinical reasons. One prevalent symptom that deserves our interest is Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). ADHD is a developmental disorder characterized by inattentiveness and hyperactivity that has been linked to occupational choice and performance. Building on the person–environment fit literature, we hypothesize that individuals who exhibit behavior associated with ADHD are more likely to have entrepreneurial intentions. Using a sample of 10,104 students enrolled in higher education, we can confirm our prediction that students with a higher level of ADHD-like behavior are more likely to have entrepreneurial intentions. Additionally, we show that risk taking propensity is a mediator that partly explains this positive effect. Our study points to the importance of behavioral tendencies associated with developmental disorders, when making entrepreneurship decisions. Our study contributes to the literature on the determinants of entrepreneurship, which so far has largely neglected the effects of psychiatric symptoms on entrepreneurship.
This article extends and elaborates the perspective on entrepreneurship articulated by Shane and Venkataraman (2000) and Venkataraman (1997) by explaining in more detail the role of opportunities in the entrepreneurial process. In particular, the article explains the importance of examining entrepreneurship through a disequilibrium framework that focuses on the characteristics and existence of entrepreneurial opportunities. In addition, the article describes several typologies of opportunities and their implications for understanding entrepreneurship.
Recently, entrepreneurship scholars have started to show interest in how " negative " traits associated with mental disorders such as ADHD may have positive implications in entrepreneur-ship. While this research has the potential of producing important and counter-intuitive results, it is still in its infancy and the causal mechanisms that drive those individuals to be attracted to entrepreneurship have received limited attention. Consequently, we draw on the person-environment fit literature and propose that individuals are attracted to, and engage in, entrepreneurship because the task environment of entrepreneurship which favors speed of action is aligned with the traits of those individuals. We develop and test a model which suggests that ADHD influences entrepreneurship through the multifaceted trait of impulsivity. We find that inattention is negatively but hyperactivity is positively associated with entrepre-neurship. We also find that sensation seeking and lack of premeditation generally positively influences entrepreneurship, whereas urgency has the opposite influence. Taken together, this suggests complex, multifaceted implications of ADHD and impulsivity in entrepreneurship. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed. Research on entrepreneur personality has been mostly associated with positive traits, such as self-efficacy and achievement motivation. However, most traits are not universally positive or negative and what is functional or dysfunctional depends on context (Judge et al., 2009). Entre-preneurship is characterized by uncertainty, which indices anxiety, worry, procrastination and inaction among most people (McMullen and Shepherd, 2006; Paulus, 2007). However, it is also a vocation that grants more autonomy in terms of job design and task allocation, which may be attractive to individuals who need more leeway in designing their own tasks. Acknowledging the high uncertainty and autonomy in entrepreneurship, we argue that ADHD symptoms, which are associated with negative consequences in many areas of life, may have positive implications in the context of entrepreneurship because ADHD is characterized by traits such as sensation seeking, a focus on action with little premeditation, and a desire for autonomy. We employ person-environment fit theory (e.g., Holland, 1997) to argue that ADHD symptoms influence entrepreneurial preferences and behavior through the multi-dimensional traits of im-pulsivity. Specifically, ADHD symptoms are related to higher levels of sensation seeking, lack of premeditation, lack of perseverance and urgency. These traits in turn influence the perceived attractiveness of entrepreneurship and the probability of starting a business. We conducted surveys on a sample of MBA alumni from a school that is consistently ranked as one of the top fifty public MBA programs, who by virtue of their degree tend to have viable job opportunities and were thus less likely to be pushed into entrepreneurship. We find that ADHD symptoms have a complicated relationship with entrepreneurial preferences and action, with the pathway through sensation seeking and lack of premeditation being mostly positive while the pathway through urgency being negative. Further, hyperactive symptoms seem to mainly result in positive outcomes while inattention symptoms lead to negative ones. Our findings demonstrate that entrepreneurship is indeed a unique area where negative traits, such as ADHD, may represent valuable assets. Previous research has mostly associated ADHD with negative job-related outcomes (Barkley et al., 2006). Our research indicates that certain aspects of ADHD symptoms, such as sensation seeking and lack of premeditation, could lead individuals to be attracted to entrepreneurship and to start their own businesses. This suggests a contextualized view of personality traits, as well as boundary conditions to existing theories. Second, we develop and empirically test a model that links ADHD symptoms to entrepreneur-ship through the multi-dimensional traits of impulsivity, which provides a more nuanced and theoretically interesting understanding of the ADHD—entrepreneurship relationship. The same can be said about our findings of the differential influences of inattention and hyperactivity symptoms. Thus, this paper contributes to previous research on ADHD and entrepreneurship that has mostly examined the bivariate relationship between the two (e.g., Veryheul et al., 2015; Thurik et al., 2016). Finally, our post-hoc analyses showed that the effects of ADHD symptoms on entrepreneurship are more pronounced under highly uncertain environments. This is consistent with our theorizing, suggesting that individuals with ADHD symptoms are more likely to harness advantages associated with ADHD rather than suffer from associated disadvantages in highly uncertain and dynamic environments such as entrepreneurship. There are at least two important practice implications of our results. First, our results imply that individuals with ADHD symptoms may be empowered to craft their own jobs to fit their special needs. Second, our findings suggest that people with ADHD symptoms and impul-sivity will tend to prefer action speed over action accuracy and that this may be functional in the context of entrepreneurship.
Although DSM-5 stipulates that symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are the same for adults as children, clinical observations suggest that adults have more diverse deficits than children in higher-level executive functioning and emotional control. Previous psychometric analyses to evaluate these observations have been limited in ways addressed in the current study, which analyzes the structure of an expanded set of adult ADHD symptoms in three pooled US samples: a national household sample, a sample of health plan members, and a sample of adults referred for evaluation at an adult ADHD clinic. Exploratory factor analysis found four factors representing executive dysfunction/inattention (including, but not limited to, all the DSM-5 inattentive symptoms, with non-DSM symptoms having factor loadings comparable to those of DSM symptoms), hyperactivity, impulsivity, and emotional dyscontrol. Empirically-derived multivariate symptom profiles were broadly consistent with the DSM-5 inattentive-only, hyperactive/impulsive-only, and combined presentations, but with inattention including executive dysfunction/inattention and hyperactivity-only limited to hyperactivity without high symptoms of impulsivity. These results show that executive dysfunction is as central as DSM-5 symptoms to adult ADHD, while emotional dyscontrol is more distinct but nonetheless part of the combined presentation of adult ADHD.
This study examined relationships of the dark triad personality characteristics (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) with entrepreneurial intentions and motives. Results from samples of business undergraduates (N = 508) and MBA students (N = 234) found narcissism to be positively related to entrepreneurial intentions. In addition, results from subgroups of business undergraduates and MBA students high in entrepreneurial intentions (i.e., early-stage nascent entrepreneurs) indicated differences in motives for engaging in the startup process. Specifically, we found all facets of the dark triad to be positively associated with unproductive entrepreneurial motives, and observed differential associations of the dark triad characteristics with productive entrepreneurial motives.
Although there has been abundant research on the positive personality and environmental qualities that stimulate entrepreneurship, we argue that negative personal circumstances of an economic, sociocultural, cognitive, and physical/ emotional nature may have an equally powerful role to play in getting people to become effective entrepreneurs. These challenges create conditions and experiences that motivate particular adaptive requirements which in turn foster outcomes such as work discipline, risk tolerance, social and network skills, and creativity.
Objective:
Despite growing interest in adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), little is known about its prevalence or correlates.
Method:
A screen for adult ADHD was included in a probability subsample (N=3,199) of 18-44-year-old respondents in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication, a nationally representative household survey that used a lay-administered diagnostic interview to assess a wide range of DSM-IV disorders. Blinded clinical follow-up interviews of adult ADHD were carried out with 154 respondents, oversampling those with positive screen results. Multiple imputation was used to estimate prevalence and correlates of clinician-assessed adult ADHD.
Results:
The estimated prevalence of current adult ADHD was 4.4%. Significant correlates included being male, previously married, unemployed, and non-Hispanic white. Adult ADHD was highly comorbid with many other DSM-IV disorders assessed in the survey and was associated with substantial role impairment. The majority of cases were untreated, although many individuals had obtained treatment for other comorbid mental and substance-related disorders.
Conclusions:
Efforts are needed to increase the detection and treatment of adult ADHD. Research is needed to determine whether effective treatment would reduce the onset, persistence, and severity of disorders that co-occur with adult ADHD.
'This ambitious book draws upon a wide variety of literature in developing a comprehensive theory of entrepreneurship, ranging from the discovery of entrepreneurial activities, to industry differences in entrepreneurial activity, to the organizing process. It represents a major contribution to the field.' - Arnold C. Cooper, Purdue University, US. 'Professor Scott Shane provides a deep and comprehensive discussion of the individual-opportunity nexus in entrepreneurship. Eschewing the usual approaches of either focusing exclusively on the individuals and their motivations and actions or focusing exclusively, almost always ex-post, on the economic potential of opportunities, Scott Shane fixes his gaze squarely on the nexus of the individual and the opportunity. It is this nexus that I believe is the building block for a better understanding of the entrepreneurial phenomenon.' - From the foreword by Sankaran Venkataraman. In the first exhaustive treatment of the field in 20 years, Scott Shane extends the analysis of entrepreneurship by offering an overarching conceptual framework that explains the different parts of the entrepreneurial process - the opportunities, the people who pursue them, the skills and strategies used to organize and exploit opportunities, and the environmental conditions favorable to them - in a coherent way.
This paper is a response to Gartner's critique of definitions posited by Carland, Hoy, Boulton and Carland (1984) for “entrepreneur” and “small business owner.” The paper concludes that both trait and behavioral approaches to research are necessary in order to understand the concept of entrepreneurship.
Despite an increasing "value-in-diversity" orientation in business, there exist virtually no systematic empirical investigations of the specific effects of ethnic diversity. An experiment compared the performance of ethnically diverse to ethnically homogeneous groups on a brainstorming task. Heterogeneous groups produced higher quality ideas than homogeneous groups, supporting a "value-in diversity" orientation.
Research summarywe examine how the interplay between executive temporal depth (time horizons that executives consider when contemplating past and future events) and industry velocity (the rate at which new opportunities emerge and disappear in an industry) shapes competitive aggressiveness (a firm's propensity to challenge rivals directly and intensely in order to maintain or improve its market position) and firm performance. Based on panel data (from 1995 to 2000) from 258 firms in 23 industries, we found that executive temporal depth exhibited different patterns of relationships with competitive aggressiveness in low- and high-velocity industries. Moreover, competitive aggressiveness had a positive main effect on firm performance but this effect was stronger in high-velocity industries than in low-velocity industries.Managerial summaryThe results of this article show that executives need to consider different past and future time horizons to enhance competitive aggressiveness and firm performance in fast changing and slow changing industries. In fast changing industries, executives with short-term thinking about the past and moderate-term thinking about the future maximize competitive aggressiveness and performance of their firms. In contrast, in slow changing environments, executives with long-term past and long-term future thinking achieve superior competitive aggressiveness and firm performance.
