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Jordan Journal of Business Administration, Volume 20, No. 4, 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.35516/jjba.v20i4.13
- 586 -
© 2024 DSR Publishers/The University of Jordan.
All Rights Reserved. This article is an open access article distributed
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ADHD Behavior and Entrepreneurial Behavior: The Mediating Role of
Entrepreneurial Intention
Khaled Tamzini 1
ABSTRACT
The fundamental objective of this research is to study the relationship between Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD) behavior and entrepreneurial behavior in Tunisian students. Based on the theory of person-
environment adjustment (P-E), the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the analysis of data collected from 267
Tunisian students using a self-administered online questionnaire, the results of the present study showed no
relationship between ADHD behavior and entrepreneurial action. However, entrepreneurial intention plays a
mediating role in this relationship. These results constitute a theoretical contribution to the entrepreneurial field.
Similarly, the results of the current study lend further support to the person-environment “P-E” theory, which
posits that the functionality of a component of ADHD behavior depends on its fit with the environment. In
particular, the uncertain and autonomous entrepreneurial environment could be an attractive career choice for
people who display hyperactive/impulsive behavior. As for the theory of planned behavior “TPB,” the results of
this study also show that intention is a fundamental antecedent of entrepreneurial behavior. This research has
practical implications. Its results can be used by stakeholders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem (teachers,
incubators, career coaches,… etc.) to detect future entrepreneurs and absorb the unemployment of Tunisian
university graduates.
Keywords: ADHD behavior, Inattention, Hyperactivity/impulsivity, Entrepreneurial intention, Entrepreneurial
action.
1 Assistant Professor, FSEG of Sousse, LaREMFiQ Laboratory, University
of Sousse, Tunisia. tamzinik@gmail.com
Received on 7/4/2022 and Accepted for Publication on 2/11/2022.
ADHD Behavior and Entrepreneurial Behavior: … Khaled Tamzini
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(ADHD)
1
ADHD
P-ETPB
267
ADHD
“P-E”
ADHD
“TPE”
LaREMFiQ Laboratory
tamzinik@gmail.com
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1. Introduction
In recent years, academic entrepreneurship communities
have developed and focused on research that interweaves
mental health and entrepreneurship (Wicklund et al., 2020;
Torrès & Thurik, 2019; Stephan, 2018). Mental-health
research covers biology and genetics (hormones, genes)
(Rietveld et al., 2021; Nicolaou et al., 2020), neuroscience
(de Holan, 2014), physiological states (cortisol, sleep,
physical health) (Gunia et al., 2020; Williamson et al., 2019;
Weinberger et al., 2018; Guiliani & Torrès, 2017), mental
health and well-being (Wach et al., 2020; Murnieks et al.,
2020; Overall, 2020) and impulsivity, narcissism,
hypomania and dyslexia (Hatak et al., 2020; Wicklund et al.,
2018; Leung et al., 2021), among many other topics.
The present research focuses on the specific links
between mental disorders and psychiatric symptoms and
entrepreneurship. One such disorder that has caught the
attention of researchers is attention deficit/hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD) (Verheul et al., 2015; Thurik et al., 2016;
Wiklund et al., 2016, Canits et al., 2019).
The American Psychiatric Association defines ADHD as
a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by
inattentiveness and/or hyperactivity and impulsivity (APA,
2013). Individuals diagnosed with ADHD display difficulty
organizing tasks and activities, significant failure to pay
close attention to detail and a tendency to make careless
mistakes (Greidanus & Liao, 2021). Polanczyk et al. (2007)
stated that ADHD affects over 5% of the world’s population.
Pelham et al. (2007) argued that ADHD has an estimated
annual economic cost of 42.5 billion dollars in the U.S.
Antshel (2018) reported that, according to recent census
data, approximately 11 million adults in the United States
have ADHD.
Despite the negative aspects of ADHD, The Economist
(2012) noted an association between ADHD and
entrepreneurship, citing entrepreneurs with ADHD who
have successfully created and grown their businesses, such
as Richard Branson (Virgin Group), Paul Orfalea (Kinkos),
David Neeleman (JetBlue) and Ingvar Kamprad (Ikea)
(Verheul et al., 2015; Antshel, 2018; Canits et al.,
2019). Since then, entrepreneurship researchers have
begun to pay more and more attention to the
relationship between attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD) and entrepreneurship. Moreover,
rather than viewing ADHD as a deficit, this research
stream has empirically shown associations between
ADHD and several aspects of entrepreneurship, such
as entrepreneurial orientation (Thurik et al., 2016) and
entrepreneurial action (Patel et al., 2019; Verheul et al.,
2016; Wiklund et al., 2017).
The results of research undertaken by scholars like
Patel et al. (2019), Verheul et al. (2015), Wiklund et al.
(2017) and Yu et al. (2019) to study the link between
ADHD and entrepreneurship are encouraging.
However, many gaps remain in terms of theory
development and empirical investigations. For instance,
Greidanus and Liao (2021) argued that the effect of
ADHD symptoms on several aspects of
entrepreneurship (e.g. entrepreneurial intention and
action) has not been definitely determined. Some
research results have shown a positive relationship,
while others have shown a negative relationship
(Antshel, 2018; Lerner et al., 2018; Moore et al., 2019).
Dimic and Orlov (2014) and Verheul et al. (2015) noted
that several studies have explored the relationship
between ADHD and entrepreneurial intention and
orientation, whereas studies focusing on entrepreneurial
action are scarce (Patel et al., 2019; Verheul et al., 2016;
Wiklund et al., 2017). Verheul et al. (2015) also pointed
out that entrepreneurial intention depends on ADHD
behavior based on the person-environment fit theory (P-
E). In this regard, entrepreneurial intention is often seen
as the starting point for the development of
entrepreneurial behavior. This stems from the Theory of
Planned Behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991), which assumes
that intention is a key determinant of entrepreneurial
action. However, Van Gelderen et al. (2015) argued that
ADHD Behavior and Entrepreneurial Behavior: … Khaled Tamzini
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intention is a weak predictor of entrepreneurial action. In
addition, they argued that ADHD impulsivity may increase
the intention-action gap.
Thus, beyond the need to focus on the relationship
between ADHD and entrepreneurship (Antshel, 2018;
Wiklund at al., 2016), there remains a need to build on the
research that explores the influence of ADHD on
entrepreneurial action (Patel et al., 2019; Verheul et al.,
2016; Wiklund et al., 2017) and the impact that
entrepreneurial intention might have on this relationship.
Moreover, while studies have examined the relationship
between entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial action
(Ajzen, 1991; Neneh, 2019; Shinnar et al., 2017; Shirokova
et al., 2016; Gieure et al., 2020; Kong et al., 2020), there is a
lack of understanding of the relationship between ADHD
behavior and entrepreneurial intention (Verheul et al., 2015;
Lerner et al., 2018; Leung et al., 2020).
This paper addresses the aforementioned gaps by
developing a conceptual model to explain and empirically
test the relationships between ADHD behavior,
entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial action in
Tunisian students. Thus, the research question is as follows:
Does entrepreneurial intention mediate the relationship
between ADHD behavior and entrepreneurial action?
This fundamental question can be broken down into three
sub-questions:
1. Is there a direct relationship between ADHD behavior and
entrepreneurial action?
2. Is there a direct relationship between ADHD behavior and
entrepreneurial intention?
3. Is there a direct relationship between entrepreneurial
intention and entrepreneurial action?
To answer these questions, we first discussed the theories
mobilized in the context of our study (the person-
environment [P-E] theory and the theory of planned behavior
[TPB]). Second, we defined the key concepts of our research
(attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD],
entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial action) by
analyzing their dimensions and domains. Our review of the
relationships between these different research concepts
based on previous work led us to develop a series of
hypotheses and construct our conceptual model. We
tested these hypotheses by drawing on data of 267
Tunisian students.
Consequently, this paper makes three main
contributions. First, we contribute to a more
comprehensive theoretical explanation of the ADHD-
entrepreneurship relationship. The results of the current
study further support the person-environment (P-E)
theory, which posits that the functionality of a
component of ADHD behavior depends on its fit with the
environment (the university environment in our case). In
particular, the uncertain and autonomous entrepreneurial
environment could be an attractive career choice for
people who display hyperactive/impulsive behavior.
Moreover, as stated by Canits et al. (2019: 371)
“choosing a homogeneous context may be a necessary
condition for identifying the relation between different
aspects of entrepreneurship (such as entrepreneurial
intention) and personal traits (such as those measured
using psychological-disorder scales)”. As for the theory
of planned behavior (TPB), the results of this study show
that intention is a fundamental antecedent of
entrepreneurial behavior. Subsequently, our current
research aims to contribute to the nascent literature of
psychological disorders and their relationship to the
entrepreneurship field by focusing especially on
entrepreneurial intention and behavior. By doing so, our
study will validate and extend prior research.
Second, we contribute empirically to the
cumulative knowledge within the growing field of
ADHD-entrepreneurship literature by examining the
role of entrepreneurial intention in the development of
entrepreneurial action in individuals with
hyperactive/impulsive behavior based on hypotheses
derived from the theory. To our knowledge, no prior
studies have examined the mediating role of
entrepreneurial intention in the relationship between
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ADHD behavior and entrepreneurial action and none has
investigated the direct effect of ADHD behavior on
entrepreneurial action.
Third, our results offer several applied contributions that
will help both those with ADHD behavior and stakeholders
in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Incubators should not only
be aware of the challenges posed by ADHD behavior, but
also understand these individuals’ particular needs, develop
mechanisms to promote their intention and facilitate the road
by offering them services adapted to their needs, to help
these “energetic” young people develop their entrepreneurial
intention and found their own companies. Entrepreneurship
teachers could emphasize hyperactivity/impulsivity, which
manifests itself both physically and verbally, to encourage
students who display this behavior to explore the option of
entrepreneurship in order to improve their career choices.
Helping them develop the skills and perseverance necessary
to found their own businesses could ultimately reduce the
unemployment rate among young Tunisian university
graduates. In addition, career coaches should help
individuals with ADHD behavior overcome interpersonal
and business-related challenges in their entrepreneurial
activities by recommending well-designed strategies.
This study could thus be of interest to all those involved
in the process of creating a new business, since it clarifies
the interaction of the individual with his/her work
environment and the interaction of the characteristics of
ADHD behavior with the development of entrepreneurial
intention, which will be transformed into entrepreneurial
action. As noted by Wiklund et al. (2016: 15), “given that
acting entrepreneurially is crucial in today's hyper-
competitive, high-velocity global business environment,
findings that “negative” ADHD characteristics facilitate
entrepreneurial action would challenge explicit and implicit
assumptions within both these literatures, opening up new
avenues for theoretical development.”
2. Literature Review
In this section, we will first discuss the theories
mobilized in the context of our study. Second, we will
define the key concepts of our research (attention
deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD],
entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial action)
by briefly analyzing their dimensions and domains.
2.1 Theoretical Framework
Two theoretical approaches are mobilized for this
study. The theory of person-environment adjustment
(P-E) is used to analyze the career choices of
individuals who display ADHD behavior. The theory
of planned behavior (TPB) conceptualizes intention as
an immediate antecedent of behavior.
2.2 The Person-Environment (P-E) Fit Theory
Research exploring the link between Attention
Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and
entrepreneurship, while nascent, often draws on the
person-environment (P-E) fit theory developed by
Kristof-Brown et al. (2005). Indeed, the use of person-
environment (P-E) fit theory as a theoretical
framework to explain and predict the relationship
between ADHD and entrepreneurship is the choice of
a growing number of studies (Verheul et al., 2015;
Wiklund et al., 2016; Wiklund et al., 2017; Canits et
al., 2019; Leung et al., 2020).
Verheul et al. (2015) argued that the idea of (P-E)
fit draws on the principles of "interactional
psychology," stating that neither personal factors nor
environmental factors alone can explain individual
behavior. Wiklund et al. (2017) reported that
individuals are attracted to work environments that
feature cultures, values and demands that match their
own personalities, needs and skills according to the
person-environment (P-E) fit theory. Thus, Hatak et al.
(2020) claimed that the work environment can be
analyzed at different levels of specificity, including
profession, such as entrepreneurship or organization.
In ADHD research in the field of entrepreneurship,
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person-environment (P-E) fit has received increasing
attention, focusing on attitudes, such as intentions and
preferences (Verheul et al., 2015), behaviors, such as the
likelihood of engaging in business start-up activities (Lerner
et al., 2019; Wiklund et al., 2017) and outcomes, such as
entrepreneurial performance (Hatak et al., 2020).
2.3 The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)
According to Rodrigues et al. (2019), the use of the
theory of planned behavior (TPB) as a theoretical framework
for the study of entrepreneurial intention is the choice of a
growing number of studies (Autio et al., 2001; Ferreira et al.,
2012; Liñán & Chen, 2009; Paço et al., 2011). This theory is
based on the model of reasoned action developed by Ajzen
and Fishbein (1980), which conceptualizes the strength of
intention as an immediate antecedent of behavior (Salah,
2014; Kautonen et al., 2015).
Indeed, the theory of planned behavior explains
entrepreneurial intention on the basis of three cognitive
antecedents: personal attitude, subjective norms and
perceived behavioral control (see Figure 1). Personal attitude
refers to the individual’s favorable or unfavorable evaluation
of the targeted behavior. Subjective norms include the
opinions of social reference groups, such as family and
friends, about whether the individual should or should not
perform the behavior. The perceived behavioral control is
the perceived ease or difficulty of performing the behavior.
Figure (1)
The theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991: 182)
Previous studies on entrepreneurship revealed that
the three antecedents explain 30% to 45% of the
variation in intentions (Kautonen et al., 2015).
Additionally, a meta-analysis indicated that TPB
accounts for 27% and 39% of the variance in behavior
and intentions, respectively (Rauch & Hulsink, 2015).
2.4 Conceptual Framework
2.4.1 Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
(ADHD)
According to the American Psychiatric Association
(2013), ADHD is a developmental disorder
characterized by abundant energy in the form of severe
and persistent hyperactivity and distractibility, that is
primarily driven by behavioral "disinhibition" or lack
of restraint (Barkley, 1997; Nigg, 1999, cited by
Verheul et al., 2015). Wiklund et al. (2016) and Leung
et al. (2020) defined ADHD as a “common
neurodevelopmental” psychological disorder
characterized by problems with concentration,
impulsivity and high activity levels. ADHD is a
common clinical condition, defined by impulsive,
hyperactive and inattentive behavior (APA, 2013),
affecting people of all ages worldwide (Lerner et al.,
2018).
According to Verheul et al. (2015), individuals who
display ADHD behavior may struggle to meet the
demands of a regular work environment. They
generally look for activities that do not require close
supervision and allow them to work independently.
Their distractibility, stemming from weaker inhibitory
control, may prevent them from successfully engaging
in activities that require sustained attention. Similarly,
Wiklund et al. (2016) stated that people who display
ADHD behavior have difficulty concentrating on tasks
that they do not find interesting, but may exhibit
intense concentration and become completely
absorbed in tasks and activities that they enjoy.
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ADHD can be severely disabling and has been linked to
negative life outcomes, such as poor school performance,
imprisonment, unemployment, drug abuse and addiction
(Wiklund et al., 2017). Tucker et al. (2021) found common
social and occupational difficulties facing people with
ADHD, such as low employment rates and lower
performance ratings from supervisors, as well as higher
absenteeism and a greater number of work accidents. It is
therefore not surprising that people who display ADHD
behavior lack self-confidence and have low self-esteem,
implying low self-efficacy, which is particularly problematic
when applied to the entrepreneurial context.
Although previous research primarily focused on the
negative consequences of ADHD on individual performance
in formal education and wage employment, Verheul et al.
(2016) cited recent studies that highlighted positive aspects
of ADHD behavior, such as its association with resilience
and well-being, close friendships and third-party inferences
about individuals’ generative qualities (creative, visionary,
good at generating ideas).
According to Verheul et al. (2016), when people with
ADHD behavior develop mechanisms to cope with their
“weaknesses,” they can harness their extraordinary talents
and perform as well as, or even better than, their peers in
business. Thus, Verheul et al. (2015) argued that these
individuals may develop greater resilience to failure as well
as skills to cope with adversity and succeed against
significant obstacles, due to their experience with the
negative consequences of ADHD in early childhood. In this
sense, Verheul et al. (2015) also found that adults who are
highly functional and exhibit ADHD behavior may
demonstrate greater resilience to disappointment.
The American Psychiatric Association (2013) defines
ADHD as an inattentive, hyperactive and impulsive
behavior. As such, there are two important dimensions of
ADHD behavior: inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity.
Tucker et al. (2021) defined inattention as a lack of attention
to detail and a propensity to make reckless mistakes in
schoolwork, work or other activities. Inattention can also
manifest as avoidance or reluctance to engage in tasks
that require sustained mental effort. Yu et al. (2019)
considered individuals with high levels of inattention
symptoms to be cognitively uninhibited, meaning they
are easily troubled by new information and find it
difficult to ignore information which is irrelevant to the
task at hand. They elaborated that this disinhibition can
increase divergent thinking abilities, which can
translate into creativity, hence more novel ideas.
However, Yu et al. (2019) pointed out that inattention
reduces convergent thinking, which is essential to
complete the innovation process. Overall, inattention
can lead to more ideas being generated, but not
necessarily to more innovations being implemented.
According to Yu et al. (2019), hyperactivity/
impulsivity involves excessive energy levels, easy
emotional arousal and behavioral disinhibition.
Symptoms include constant fidgeting with hands and
feet, a "never stopping mind" manifested by excessive
talking, unfocused responses, difficulty in waiting and
constant interruption of others (Tucker et al., 2021).
2.4.2 Entrepreneurial Intention
Entrepreneurial intention has long been a topic of
interest for entrepreneurship researchers. It is generally
defined as the extent to which an individual plan to
start a business/become an entrepreneur (Lerner et al.,
2018). For Vamvaka et al. (2020), entrepreneurial
intention is the mindset that directs and guides
attention, experience, actions, objective setting,
communication, commitment, organization and other
types of an individual’s work towards the adoption of
entrepreneurial behavior. Similarly, Kong et al. (2020)
defined entrepreneurial intention as a psychological
state that guides individuals' attention towards specific
business goals in order to achieve entrepreneurial
results and stated that it is also the recognition that
individuals are taking steps to develop new businesses
or create new values in existing ones.
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According to Liñán and Chen (2009), entrepreneurial
intention indicates the effort that a person will make to adopt
entrepreneurial behavior. Biraglia and Kadile (2017) argued
that entrepreneurial intention constitutes the individual's
interest in starting a business and added that it reflects the
individual's interest in choosing an alternative career path to
regular employment. For Shirokova et al. (2016),
entrepreneurial intention reflects the individual's
commitment to venture into the creation of a new business
and serves as a key antecedent of entrepreneurial behavior.
According to Kong et al. (2020), many studies have
explored factors affecting entrepreneurial intention, such as
personal characteristics, self-efficacy, risk perception,
system design, … etc. For Liñán and Chen (2009),
entrepreneurial intention can be influenced by several
factors, such as needs, values, desires, habits and beliefs
(Bird, 1988; Lee & Wong, 2004). In particular, the cognitive
factors that Ajzen (1991) called "motivational antecedents"
are more favorable to increase the intention to launch a
business. Situational antecedents, according to Liñán and
Chen (2009), are the external factors, such as time
constraints, task difficulty and social pressure that influence
an individual's attitude towards entrepreneurship and even
his/her entrepreneurial intention. In terms of push and pull
factors, negative stimuli (i.e., layoffs, frustration,
unemployment and underemployment) may be more likely
than positive stimuli (i.e., access to information, advice,
guidance and support) to trigger entrepreneurial intention
(Solesvik et al., 2014).
While the literature on the determinants of entrepreneurial
intention has taken only a psychological perspective (Douglas
& Fitzsimmons, 2013), Verheul et al. (2015) extended its
scope by including ADHD behavior as a determinant of
entrepreneurial intention. The literature on entrepreneurial
intention distinguishes two theoretical approaches: Shapero
and Sokol’s (1982) entrepreneurial event model and Ajzen’s
(1991) theory of planned behavior. These two models provide
a coherent, highly generalizable and robust theoretical
framework for understanding and predicting entrepreneurial
intention (Rodrigues et al., 2019).
Shapero and Sokol (1982) explained the act of
business creation through three groups of important
factors that can change an individual’s life (see Figure
2):
1) Negative displacements include divorce, emigration
and dismissal.
2) Intermediate situations refer to events like leaving
the army, dropping out of school or leaving prison.
3) Positive displacements include the influence of the
family, the existence of a market or the existence of
potential investors.
Researchers have identified two groups of
intermediate variables between the three
aforementioned factors and the act of creating a
business that represent perceptions of desirability and
feasibility. Desirability represents the social and
cultural factors that act on the value system of the
individual. Feasibility refers to perceptions of the
factors supporting business creation. Among these
factors, we distinguish the availability of advice and
the financial means necessary for the creation of the
business, the help of the social network (spouse and
friends) and entrepreneurial training, which act on
perceptions of feasibility.
Figure (2)
The formation of the entrepreneurial event
(Shapero & Sokal, 1982: 83)
Tounés (2006) considered that Shapero and Sokol
(1982)’s model is implicitly based on intention. Thus,
to promote the intention to create a business, it is
necessary to act simultaneously on desirability
perceptions and feasibility perceptions.
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2.4.3 Entrepreneurial Action
Entrepreneurial action is often defined as a nascent
entrepreneurial behavior, i.e., actions associated with
starting a business, such as developing opportunities,
making a prototype and attempting to acquire start-up
resources (Sandri, 2016; Lerner et al., 2018). Thus, the
decision to create a new business is seen as a reflective
activity and a planned behavior in entrepreneurs (Kong et al.,
2020). According to Sproul et al. (2019), entrepreneurial
actions are efforts and investments made in response to a
judgmental decision under a person's uncertainty about a
possible opportunity for profit.
Entrepreneurial action can be conceptualized as multiple
activities rather than a single act (Wiklund, Yu & Patzelt,
2018). Through this lens, Botha et al. (2019) defined
entrepreneurial action as the process of assembling
continuous, interdependent actions into sequences that
produce sensible results. Botha et al. (2019) emphasized that
most entrepreneurship research admits that entrepreneurial
action refers to a process and does not correspond to a single
step. Therefore, Botha et al. (2019) considered that the
process of starting a new business involves multiple complex
and interrelated activities that could be performed in any
order.
The literature on entrepreneurial action identifies
different factors affecting entrepreneurial action in many
aspects, such as entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial
orientation, entrepreneurial intention, .... etc. Rauch and
Hulsink (2015) focused on entrepreneurship education,
which aims to train people in entrepreneurship and prepare
them for entrepreneurial careers. These two researchers
claimed that entrepreneurship education has an impact on
entrepreneurial behavior. They stated that entrepreneurship
education is an antecedent of entrepreneurial behavior.
Moruku (2013) argued that entrepreneurial orientation is an
antecedent of entrepreneurial behavior and explained that
entrepreneurs who promote entrepreneurial orientation take
action to realize their entrepreneurial thoughts, plans and
dreams (Tamzini, 2023). According to Kong et al. (2020), all
entrepreneurship begins with the generation of
entrepreneurial intention, which has a predictive effect
on entrepreneurial behavior. The entrepreneurial
process can be divided into two stages: the formation
of entrepreneurial intention and the implementation of
entrepreneurial behavior.
3. Development of Research Hypotheses and
Construction of a Conceptual Model
In this part of our paper, we will expose the
relationships between the different research concepts
that have been developed by reviewing the previous
literature to finally build our conceptual model and
develop our research hypotheses.
3.1 ADHD Behavior and Entrepreneurial
Intention
A central theme in the mental-health and
entrepreneurship literature is that certain aspects of
ADHD can be leveraged in positive ways and can lead
people with ADHD (or who display ADHD behavior)
to find a career suitable for entrepreneurship (Tucker
et al., 2021).
Several studies drawing on the ADHD literature
have emerged suggesting a positive association
between ADHD behavior and entrepreneurship,
including an increased likelihood of entrepreneurial
intention in people with ADHD behavior (Verheul et
al., 2015). For example, in the first large-scale, topic-
focused scientific survey sampling over 13,000
university students, Verheul et al. (2015) associated a
continuous indicator of ADHD behavior with
entrepreneurial career intentions. According to Lerner
and Verheul (2016), people with ADHD espose
entrepreneurial preferences and intentions. Verheul et
al. (2015) found that ADHD behavior is predictive of
entrepreneurial career intentions. Similarly, Leung et
al. (2020) stated that ADHD behavior is positively
associated with entrepreneurial intention (Verheul et
ADHD Behavior and Entrepreneurial Behavior: … Khaled Tamzini
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al., 2015). The positive link between ADHD and
entrepreneurial intention is also found in people with clinical
diagnoses of ADHD (Lerner et al., 2018).
Most definitions of entrepreneurship include self-
employment (Antshel, 2018), which is not just any career
choice; it is a manifestation of entrepreneurship that is
essential for job creation, innovation and economic growth
in modern societies (Verheul et al., 2016). Studies have
shown that adults with ADHD are more likely to own their
businesses and be self-employed (Antshel, 2018).
3.1.1 Dimensions of ADHD Behavior and
Entrepreneurial Intention
Several entrepreneurship researchers have analyzed the
components of ADHD behavior separately (Verheul et al.,
2016; Wiklund et al., 2017; Antshel, 2018). For instance,
Antshel (2018) suggested a relationship between ADHD
behavior dimensions and entrepreneurial intention and
proposed that the hyperactivity/impulsivity dimension is the
driver of this relationship. In addition, Wiklund et al. (2017)
found that hyperactivity/impulsivity is positively associated
with entrepreneurial intentions, while inattention is
negatively associated with entrepreneurial intentions. Leung
et al. (2020)’s results support the positive association of
hyperactivity/impulsivity with entrepreneurial intention, but
found no significant association between inattention and
entrepreneurial intention. Based on our review of the
existing literature, we make the following assumptions:
H1.a: Inattention has a negative and insignificant impact on
entrepreneurial intention.
H1.b: Hyperactivity/impulsivity has a positive and
significant impact on entrepreneurial intention.
3.2 Entrepreneurial Intention and Action
According to Ajzen (1991), the starting point of
entrepreneurial action is the development of an intention.
This suggests a link between entrepreneurial actions and
entrepreneurial intentions.
Neneh (2019) considered that the direct association
between entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial
behavior stems from the theory of planned behavior
(TPB), which posits that intention is a good predictor
of real entrepreneurial behavior. Several
entrepreneurship researchers have chosen these
theoretical foundations as a basis in their studies to
examine the relationship between entrepreneurial
intentions and actions, to determine the likelihood of
individuals starting their own businesses (Neneh,
2019). For example, Shirokova et al. (2016) showed
that entrepreneurial intention was positively related to
entrepreneurial activity among students from 759
universities in 34 countries. Similarly, Shinnar et al.
(2017) confirmed the positive association between
entrepreneurial intention and real behavior using four-
year longitudinal data from management students in
the United States. Neneh (2019) confirmed the
existence of a link between entrepreneurial intention
and entrepreneurial behavior among university
students in South Africa. By studying the relationship
between the intention and behavior of students enrolled
in 74 universities in 34 countries, Gieure et al. (2020)
showed that intentions have a positive effect on
entrepreneurial behavior and that intentions can lead
students to create their own businesses. In addition,
Kong et al. (2020) found that the relationship between
entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial behavior
was highly significant among graduate students from
35 universities in China between 2012 and 2018,
indicating that entrepreneurial intention has a
significant positive relationship with entrepreneurial
behavior. Based on our review of the existing
literature, we make the following assumption:
H2: Entrepreneurial intention has a positive and
significant impact on entrepreneurial action.
3.3 The Mediating Role of Entrepreneurial
Intention
Results suggest that ADHD behavior has positive
relationships with entrepreneurial intentions (Verheul
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et al., 2015), entrepreneurial activity (Wiklund et al., 2017)
and the pursuit of self-employment (Verheul et al., 2016).
More specifically, Verheul et al. (2016) investigated the
relationships between ADHD-behavior dimensions and
people already engaged in self-employment (behavior). This
study showed that the dimension of ADHD behavior most
related to self-employment is hyperactivity/impulsivity, not
inattention. Moreover, since many researchers, such as
Shirokova et al. (2016), Shinnar et al. (2017), Neneh (2019),
Gieure et al. (2020) and Kong et al. (2020), have shown that
intentions significantly predict entrepreneurial behavior, it
seems logical to assume that:
H3.a: Entrepreneurial intention plays a mediating role
between inattention and entrepreneurial action.
H3.b: Entrepreneurial intention plays a mediating role
between hyperactivity/ impulsivity and
entrepreneurial action.
Based on these analyses, we present our conceptual
model (Figure 3).
Figure (3)
Conceptual model
4. Methodology and Data Analysis
In this section, we will present the epistemological
posture as well as the research methodology adopted in this
work.
4.1 Epistemological Positioning and Research
Methodology
To solve our problem and achieve our fundamental
objective, our research was placed in a positivist perspective.
Indeed, this research is based on a deductive approach,
since it is from acquired knowledge, theories and
concepts that we have formulated hypotheses, which
will then be tested against the facts. Therefore, our
conceptual model will be tested by adopting a
quantitative approach, based on the administration of a
questionnaire as a mode of data collection.
4.2 Data Collection and Processing
Our questionnaire was conducted online. We
explained to respondents the purpose of our survey and
guaranteed the confidentiality of the data. The
questionnaire was administered between March 2021
and April 2021 and we collected 267 responses.
Data processing was carried out with two software
programs: SPSS (version 21) and Smart PLS 3. The
SPSS software was used to process demographic
variables. The SmartPLS 3 (Partial Least Square)
software was used to analyze the measurement model
and the structural model and to test the hypotheses. The
PLS was chosen for our study analysis for several
reasons. First, as emphasized by Ringle et al. (2015),
PLS is widely used in business management and
related disciplines. Second, it is considered the most
comprehensive and fully developed system of variance
(McDonald, 1996). Third, Matthews and Matthews
(2018) stated that PLS could be used for mediation and
moderation analysis. Finally, as suggested by Becker
et al. (2012), the present research employed a two-step
approach (an evaluation of measurements and a
structural model).
4.3 Sample
Our sample consists of 267 students enrolled in a
large Tunisian university. 81.6% of our respondents
are women, while men represent 18.4%. 75.3% are
between 20 and 25 years old and 7.1% are between 25
and 35 years old. Regarding the level of education,
63.7% of the students are in the first cycle of study; of
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these students, 46.8% are enrolled in the fundamental-degree
program and 16.9% are registered in the applied-degree
program. 30.3% of the students are in the second cycle of
study; of these, 18.7% are enrolled in a professional master-
degree program and 11.6% are enrolled in a research master-
degree program. 3.4% of the students have doctoral degrees,
while 2.6% have engineering degrees. Regarding
entrepreneurship education, 69.3% of the students took an
entrepreneurship course during their time at the university,
while 30.7% of the students did not. As for entrepreneurial
experience, the results show that only 20.2% of the students
have entrepreneurial experience, while 79.8% of the
respondents do not. Regarding work experience, 65.9% of
the students do not have work experience and only 26.6%
have work experience of less than 3 years. Finally, the results
show that 22.5% of the students had an entrepreneur parent
and 77.5% did not.
As stated by Hsu et al. (2017), a sample composed
homogeneously of university students is suitable to explain
the effects of ADHD symptoms on entrepreneurial intention
and entrepreneurial action. They argued that their choice was
based on two reasons. First, university students will have to
face career choices soon after graduation. Second, they tend
to have minimal work and entrepreneurial experiences.
On a related note, Lerner et al. (2019) presented another
reason to select university students as a suitable sample for
studying the relationship between ADHD and the
determinants of entrepreneurship. They stated that “given the
age of the respondents, the inquiry offers the advantage of
capturing individuals prior to the possibility of being forced
into entrepreneurship and prior to selection and sampling
biases that would be present in older workers” (Lerner et al.,
2019: 385). Moreover, this kind of convenience
sample, which is suitable for our research question, “is
not intended to proxy some other population such as
entrepreneurs, (…) and offers a conservative test of the
fundamental relationship in question” (Lerner et al.,
2019: 385). Based on the nature of our research
question (whether ADHD behavior is linked to
entrepreneurial action via entrepreneurial intention),
we do not seek to provide evidence for a well-
established effect generalizable to the whole
population or to provide insight into the mechanisms
underlying a link. This reduces the sampling bias.
In order to limit the selection bias and increase the
sample size, we first pre-tested our questionnaire
before administering it to the entire sample. The pre-
test is a necessary and important step, which consists
of testing the measuring instrument with a small
sample of individuals in order to improve its quality,
detect errors and ensure that the questions are
understandable and fluid. Second, due to COVID-19,
our questionnaire was sent only online, as university
students are very active on social networks, especially
on nationwide Facebook groups that cover much of
this population. Third, we informed the university
students about our survey's objective and guaranteed
their responses' confidentiality.
4.4 Operationalization of Variables
Table 1 summarizes the type and nature of the
measurement scales used to operationalize our
research variables, as well as the number of items for
each of these scales.
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Table 1
Measurement of variable
Variables
Type
Nature
Items
ADHD behavior
Verheul et al.
(2016)
5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = never to 5 = very often
18
Entrepreneurial
intention
Liñán and Chen
(2009)
5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = completely disagree to 5 =
completely agree
6
Entrepreneurial
action
Rauch and
Hulsink (2015)
Binary questions
(yes/no) covering a representative set of activities associated with the
creation of new businesses
18
5. Data Analysis and Results
This section concerns the assessment of our research
model as well as the validation of our hypotheses.
Based on Becker et al.’s (2012) proposition, our research
used a two-step approach for PLS; namely, the assessment
of the measurement model and the assessment of the
structural model. Evaluation of the measurement model
includes reliability and validity, while evaluating the
structural model focuses on the coefficient of determination,
path coefficient, mediation test, model fit, hypotheses
testing, … etc.
5.1 Measurement Model Evaluation and Results
Two types of construct validity are to be considered:
convergent validity and discriminant validity.
5.1.1 Convergent Validity
Convergent-validity testing consists of verifying that the
various indicators of one construct are linked and
correlated with each other. If this is the case, the items
measure the construct well. The convergent validity of
a construct can be ensured through three criteria:
• The first criterion involves the reliability of the items
measured by the “Cronbach's alpha” coefficient.
This coefficient, which makes it possible to check
whether each item is consistent with all the other
items of the scale, must be > 0.70.
• The second criterion relates to the variance of the
means extracted, “AVE,” which must be greater than
0.5. When the AVE is above this threshold, the
variance explained by the items is greater than the
variance due to measurement errors.
• The third criterion corresponds to the reliability of the
“CR” components, which measures the overall
reliability of the construct. This coefficient must be
> 0.70.
Table 2
Construct reliability and validity
Variable
AVE
CR
Cronbach's Alpha
ADHD INA
0.731
0.972
0.969
ADHD_HYP/IMP
0.674
0.978
0.976
Entrepreneurial intention
0.756
0.949
0.935
Entrepreneurial action
0.508
0.939
0.937
From Table 2, we note that the reliability of the different measurement scales of our conceptual model based on
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the CR and on Cronbach's alpha is good. Thus, the
convergent validity is verified.
5.1.2 Discriminant Validity
Discriminant validity refers to the extent to which items
on the scale measuring one concept differ from items
intended to measure other related concepts. To assess
convergent validity, it is acceptable to use the cross-
loading and Fornell and Larcker criteria. In the present
case, the threshold value of the minimum cross-loading
is 0.510. For the Fornell-Larcker criterion, which
compares the square root of the mean variance
extracted (AVE) with the correlation of the latent
variables, we present Table 3.
Table 3
Fornell-Larcker criterion
EA
EI
ADHD _HYP/IMP
ADHD _INA
EA
0.723
EI
0.241
0.750
ADHD _HYP/IMP
0.013
0.156
0.781
ADHD _INA
-0.130
-0.005
0.043
0.771
We can observe that each variable of our conceptual
model is strongly correlated with itself. However, the
correlation of each variable with the other variables is weak.
Analysis of the table also shows that entrepreneurial action
better explains the variance of its own indicator by 72%
compared to the variance of other latent variables.
5.2 Structural Model Evaluation and Results
5.2.1 Coefficient of Determination "R2"
The coefficient of determination R2 expresses the part of
the variance of the dependent variable that comes from those
of the independent variables.
As shown in Table 4 below, entrepreneurial intention
explains 7.5% of the variation in entrepreneurial action,
which implies that there are other variables to assist this link.
Table 4
Coefficient of determination "R2"
R2
Result
Entrepreneurial
action
0.075
Unacceptable
Entrepreneurial
intention
0.025
Unacceptable
5.2.2 Effect Size F2
This indicator measures the effect size of each
independent variable on the dependent variable.
Thus, the effect size is interpreted as follows:
If F2> 0.35, the effect size is considered large.
If F2 varies between 0.15 and 0.35, the effect size is
assumed to be medium.
If F2 varies between 0.02 and 0.15, the effect size is
restricted.
If F2< 0.02, there is no size effect.
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Table 5
Effect size “F2”
EA
EI
ADHD _HYP/IMP
ADHD _INA
Result
EA
EI
0.063
Restricted
ADHD _HYP/IMP
0.000
0.025
No size effect/
Restricted
ADHD _INA
0.018
0.000
No size effect
Based on Table 5, we note that entrepreneurial intention
has a small effect size of 6.3% on entrepreneurial action.
Inattention has no effect on entrepreneurial intention and
entrepreneurial action. Thus, hyperactivity/impulsivity has a
small effect size of 2.5% on entrepreneurial intention and has
no effect on entrepreneurial action.
5.2.3 Model Global Assessment
Model fit (see Table 6) provides calculated fit statistics
on all models. It provides a concise summary of the fit of the
models with the estimated parameters to the data.
Table 6
Model fit
Saturated Model
Estimated
Model
SRMR
0.082
0.082
NFI
0.674
0.674
The saturated model evaluates the correlation between all
the constructs. The estimated model is based on a total effect
pattern and considers the structure of the model. It is
therefore a more restricted version of the adjustment
measure.
The SRMR (Standardized Root Mean Square Residual)
is defined as the difference between the observed correlation
and the implicit correlation matrix of the model. Thus, it
makes it possible to assess the average magnitude of the
deviations between the observed and expected correlations
as an absolute measure of the fit criterion (of the model). A
value less than 0.10 or 0.08 is considered a good fit.
The NFI (Normed Fit Index) is the proportion of
the total covariance explained by the model tested
compared to the base model. It is defined as 1 minus
the chi2 value of the proposed model divided by the
chi2 values of the null model. Therefore, the NFI gives
values between 0 and 1. The closer the NFI to 1, the
better the fit. NFI values greater than 0.9 generally
represent an acceptable fit.
As shown above, the comparison between our
model and the saturated model made it possible to
highlight the values of the SRMR and NFI indices. For
the SRMR indicator, the values are less than 0.10. This
shows the adequacy of the model with the parameters
estimated from the data. Therefore, we can conclude
that the overall model has a better fit. However, the
value of the NFI is far from 0.9, which confirms a poor
quality of adjustment of our model.
5.2.4 Mediation Effect
The mediator variable is an intermediate variable
that explains the relationship between an independent
variable and a dependent variable. Indeed, we want to,
on one hand, assess whether entrepreneurial intention
is the mediator of the direct effect between
hyperactivity/impulsivity and entrepreneurial action
and, on the other hand, assess whether entrepreneurial
intention is the mediator of the direct effect between
inattention and entrepreneurial action.
Table 7 shows that the relationship between the
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independent variable (hyperactivity/impulsivity) and the
dependent variable (action) via the mediating variable
(intention) is significant (p < 0.05). In fact, these results
show that entrepreneurial intention plays a mediating role in
the relationship between hyperactivity/impulsivity and
entrepreneurial action (B = 0.038, t = 1.975, p < 0.05). In our
case, it is a total mediation, because the direct effect
between hyperactivity/impulsivity and entrepreneurial
action is not significant (p>0.05) and the indirect effect
between hyperactivity/impulsivity and entrepreneurial
action is significant (p < 0.05).
Table 7
Mediation effect
Original
Sample
(O)
Sample
Mean (M)
Standard
Deviation
(STDEV)
T-statistics
(|O/STDEV|)
P-values
EI -> EA
0.244
0.253
0.053
4.567
0.000
ADHD_HYP/IMP -> EA
-0.020
-0.023
0.093
0.210
0.834
ADHD _HYP/IMP -> EI
0.157
0.166
0.073
2.151
0.032
ADHD _INA -> EA
-0.128
-0.131
0.082
1.556
0.120
ADHD _INA -> EI
-0.012
-0.021
0.105
0.117
0.907
ADHD _HYP/IMP -> EI -> EA
0.038
0.041
0.019
1.975
0.048
ADHD _INA -> IE -> EA
-0.003
-0.005
0.027
0.111
0.912
5.2.5 Testing of Hypotheses
Table 8 shows the results of testing our research
hypotheses:
• The relationship between inattention and entrepreneurial
intention is negative and not significant (P-value = 0.907).
• There is a positive and highly significant relationship
(P-value = 0.032) between hyperactivity/impulsivity and
entrepreneurial intention.
• The relationship between intention and entrepreneurial
action is positive and highly significant (P-value =
0.000).
• The relationship between inattention and
entrepreneurial action is negative and not significant
(P-value = 0.120).
• The relationship between hyperactivity/impulsivity
and entrepreneurial action is negative and not
significant (P-value = 0.834).
Table 8
Testing of Hypotheses
Original
Sample (O)
Standard
Deviation
(STDEV)
T Statistics
(|O/STDEV|)
P Values
Decision
ADHD _INA -> EI
-0,012
0.105
0.117
0.907
No sig.*
ADHD _HYP/IMP -> EI
0.157
0.073
2.151
0.032
Sig.*
EI -> EA
0.244
0.053
4.567
0.000
Sig.*
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ADHD _INA -> EA
-0.128
0.082
1.556
0.120
No sig.*
ADHD _HYP/IMP -> EA
-0.020
0.093
0.210
0.834
No sig.*
ADHD _HYP/IMP -> EI -> EA
0.038
0.019
1.975
0.048
Sig.*
ADHD _INA -> EI -> EA
-0.003
0.027
0.111
0.912
No sig.*
Significative p* <0.05
Based on the above data, Table 9 presents a summary of the validation of our research hypotheses.
Table 9
Summary of validation of research hypotheses
Hypotheses
Validation
criterion
H1.a: Inattention has a negative and insignificant impact on entrepreneurial intention.
Confirmed
H1.b: Hyperactivity/impulsivity has a positive and significant impact on entrepreneurial intention.
Confirmed
H2: Entrepreneurial intention has a positive and significant impact on entrepreneurial action.
Confirmed
H3.a: Entrepreneurial intention plays a mediating role between inattention and entrepreneurial action.
Rejected
H3.b: Entrepreneurial intention plays a mediating role between hyperactivity/impulsivity and
entrepreneurial action.
Confirmed
6. Discussion
We studied the links between the two types of ADHD
behavior; namely, inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity
and entrepreneurial action in Tunisian students. Our results
show that their direct effects are not significant on
entrepreneurial action.
Although ADHD behavior is positively related to
business start-up activity among former MBA graduates in
the United States (Wiklund et al., 2017) and the pursuit of
self-employment (Verheul et al., 2016), the results of the
current study show that Tunisian students who display
ADHD behavior are less likely to venture into business
creation. In addition, our results invalidate those of Verheul
et al. (2016), who demonstrated that the ADHD
behavior that explains self-employment is that of
hyperactivity/impulsivity and not inattention in a
population-based sample from the Swedish twin registry.
In fact, our findings show that Tunisian students who
display ADHD behavior are less excited and motivated for
entrepreneurial activities, despite the fact that
entrepreneurship involves risky, complex and innovative
activities that are generally perceived as attractive to people
who display ADHD behavior (Lerner & Verheul,
2016). It is known that an individual’s characteristics
are important in explaining entrepreneurial intention as
well as behavior (Stappers & Andries, 2020). This
finding is also true for individuals with ADHD
behavior (Wiklund, 2017). In this sense, these
characteristics may prevent them from successfully
engaging in activities that require sustained attention
(Verheul et al., 2015).
Entrepreneurial behavior involves several types of
activities associated with the launch of a business, such
as the development of market opportunities, the
preparation of a business plan, the organization of a
launch team, the search for equipment, … etc., which
often require special attention and careful thought
(Kong et al., 2020). From this perspective, ADHD
behavior, which manifests as inattention and/or
hyperactivity/impulsivity, may prevent Tunisian
students from engaging in entrepreneurial activities,
because inattention leads to avoidance or reluctance to
engage in activities that require sustained mental effort
(Tucker et al., 2021). Additionally, hyperactivity/
ADHD Behavior and Entrepreneurial Behavior: … Khaled Tamzini
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impulsivity manifests as boredom, which results in their lack
of perseverance in activities that do not interest them (Yu et
al., 2019).
Leung et al. (2020) postulated that a better understanding
of outcomes could be obtained by introducing a mediating
construct. Thus, we investigated whether entrepreneurial
intention, a recurring theme in entrepreneurship research,
would explain the relationship between the two types of
ADHD behavior and entrepreneurial action in Tunisian
students.
Referring to P-E and TPB, the results of this study show
that entrepreneurial intention plays a mediating role in the
development of entrepreneurial action among Tunisian
students who present, in particular, hyperactivity/
impulsivity. Students who display hyperactive/impulsive
behavior are less likely to venture into business creation.
Any entrepreneurial action begins with the formation of
entrepreneurial intention, which has a good predictive effect
on entrepreneurial behavior, according to the theory of
planned behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991). In this sense,
Tunisian students who display hyperactive/impulsive
behavior will be inclined to act on their intentions and will
engage in entrepreneurial activities as soon as their
intentions have been formed.
By studying the links between the two types of ADHD
behavior (inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity) and the
entrepreneurial intention of Tunisian students, we found that
the "hyperactivity/impulsivity" behavior seems to drive this
relationship more than the "inattention" behavior. The results
of the current study confirm the existence of a positive and
significant relationship between hyperactivity/impulsivity and
entrepreneurial intention. However, a non-significant negative
relationship was found between inattention and
entrepreneurial intention.
Our results are largely consistent with those of previous
studies. For example, Wiklund et al. (2017) found that
hyperactivity/impulsivity is positively associated with
1
AACSB: The American label AACSB (Association to Advance
Collegiate Schools of Business), created in 1916, is an
entrepreneurial intention, while inattention is
negatively associated with entrepreneurial intention
among former MBA graduates from an AACSB
1
-
accredited US business school consistently ranked
among the top-50 public business schools in the United
States. Leung et al. (2020) also showed a positive
association between hyperactivity/impulsivity and
entrepreneurial intention and a non-significant
association between inattention and entrepreneurial
intention in Dutch students enrolled at a top university.
Tunisian students who display hyperactive/
impulsive behavior seem to prefer entrepreneurial
careers to salaried careers when there is a better match
between their individual characteristics and the
demands of entrepreneurship compared to
employment in a regular business environment. These
results provide further support for the person-
environment “P-E” theory, which posits that the
functionality of a component of ADHD behavior
depends on its fit with the environment (Antshel, 2018;
Leung et al., 2020). In other words, the uncertain and
autonomous entrepreneurial environment seems to be
an attractive career choice for Tunisian students who
display hyperactive/impulsive behavior.
To verify the relationship between entrepreneurial
intention and entrepreneurial action, our current study
relies on the theory of planned behavior (TPB). In line
with this positioning, most studies have supported the
idea that entrepreneurial intention has a predictive
effect on entrepreneurial behavior (Shirokova et al.,
2016; Shinnar et al., 2017; Neneh, 2019; Gieure et al.,
2020; Kong et al., 2020).
The results of the current study confirm the
existence of a positive and highly significant
relationship between entrepreneurial intention and
entrepreneurial action. Tunisian students who are
guided by entrepreneurial intentions have a higher
accreditation that rewards business schools for the quality
of their management training.
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probability of acting according to these intentions and
engaging in entrepreneurial activities. Generally, people
who have strong intentions for a particular behavior are
generally more likely to put a lot of effort into engaging in
that behavior (Neneh, 2019). In other words, Tunisian
students with entrepreneurial intentions would invest a lot of
effort and energy to turn their intentions into entrepreneurial
action.
Our results are largely consistent with the results of
previous studies, such as that of Shirokova et al. (2016), who
showed that entrepreneurial intention is positively related to
entrepreneurial activity among students from 759
universities in 34 countries. Similarly, Shinnar et al. (2017)
supported the positive association between entrepreneurial
intention and actual behavior using four-year longitudinal
data from management students in the United States. Neneh
(2019) confirmed the existence of a link between
entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial behavior
among university students in South Africa. By studying the
relationship between the intentions and behavior of students
enrolled in 74 universities in 34 countries, Gieure et al.
(2020) also showed that intentions have a positive effect on
entrepreneurial behavior and that intentions can lead
students to create their own businesses. In addition, Kong et
al. (2020) found that the relationship between
entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial behavior was
highly significant among graduate students from 35
universities in China between 2012 and 2018, indicating that
entrepreneurial intention has a significant positive
relationship with entrepreneurial behavior.
7. Research Contributions
The present study offers significant contributions in
understanding the importance of ADHD behavior for
entrepreneurship.
7.1 Theoretical Implications
The theoretical implications of this study are twofold.
First, it illuminates the powerful role of entrepreneurial
intention in the development of entrepreneurial action
in people with hyperactive/impulsive behavior, in
particular. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first
study that highlights the mediating role of
entrepreneurial intention in the development of
entrepreneurial action in these individuals.
Second, the results of the current study further
support the person-environment (P-E) theory, which
posits that the functionality of a component of ADHD
behavior depends on its fit with the environment. In
particular, the uncertain and autonomous
entrepreneurial environment could be an attractive
career choice for people who display
hyperactive/impulsive behavior. As for the theory of
planned behavior (TPB), the results of this study also
show that intention is a fundamental antecedent of
entrepreneurial behavior.
7.2 Empirical Implications
The current paper contributes empirically to the
cumulative knowledge within the growing field of
ADHD-entrepreneurship literature by examining the
role of entrepreneurial intention in the development of
entrepreneurial action in individuals with
hyperactive/impulsive behavior based on hypotheses
derived from the theory. To our knowledge, no prior
studies have examined the mediating role of
entrepreneurial intention in the relationship of ADHD
behavior with entrepreneurial action and none has
investigated the direct effect of ADHD behavior on
entrepreneurial action.
7.3 Practical Implications
The results of this study provide practical
implications that can be exploited by stakeholders in
the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Entrepreneurship
teachers could emphasize the behavior of
hyperactivity/impulsivity, which manifests itself both
physically and verbally, to encourage students who
ADHD Behavior and Entrepreneurial Behavior: … Khaled Tamzini
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display this behavior to explore the option of
entrepreneurship. This could improve their career choices
and inspire them to develop the skills and the perseverance
necessary to found their own businesses, which could
ultimately reduce the unemployment rate among young
Tunisian university graduates.
Incubators should not only be aware of the challenges
posed by ADHD behavior, but also understand these
individuals’ particular needs, develop mechanisms to
promote their intention and facilitate the road ahead by
offering them services adapted to their needs. They must
help these “energetic” young people develop their
entrepreneurial intention in order to found their own
companies.
Finally, career coaches should include assessment tests
for mental disorders like ADHD in consultations and
encourage people facing such disorders to explore the option
of entrepreneurship and think carefully about their
motivations when choosing a future profession, in order to
improve their career choices and reduce the unemployment
rate among these individuals. In addition, career coaches
should help individuals with ADHD behavior overcome
interpersonal and business-related challenges in their
entrepreneurial activities by recommending well-designed
strategies.
In conclusion, this study may help destigmatize ADHD
as a disorder, given its positive association with
entrepreneurship and its contribution to socio-economic life.
In other words, psychiatric disorders not only present risks,
but can also benefit individuals and society. This study could
thus be of interest to all those involved in the process of
creating a new business, since it clarifies the interaction of
the person with his/her work environment and the
characteristics of ADHD behavior with the development of
entrepreneurial intention, which will be transformed into
entrepreneurial action.
8. Limitations and Future-research Avenues
This study has some limitations that may provide
opportunities for further research.
A sample of university students can be considered
appropriate to examine the relationship between
ADHD and entrepreneurial behavior, as explained
above. However, our sample is relatively small and
consists only of Tunisian university students, which
may limit the generalizability of our results. Therefore,
future studies could use an ex ante and longitudinal
approach to establish predictability (Antoncic et al.,
2015) and minimize the limitations of the cross-
sectional dataset (Omri & Becuwe, 2014).
Although college students are an appropriate
population to study career decisions, further research
is needed to assess the relationship between ADHD
behavior and entrepreneurship in samples of non-
students, including both employed and unemployed
individuals. This is because students are a distinct
group that may exhibit more effective adaptation
mechanisms; this group may also include cases that are
more successful and exclude extreme cases.
The theory of planned behavior (TPB), which
posits that intention is a fundamental antecedent of
actual entrepreneurial behavior, has been widely used
to predict entrepreneurial action. However, this theory
does not consider the limits of the link between
intention and entrepreneurial action. Indeed, the
quality of prediction was found to be very low in our
study, since only 7.5% of changes in entrepreneurial
behavior were explained by intention. This could be
explained by the presence of other variables, which
could help this link have a good predictive quality.
Therefore, adding moderating variables in the
relationship between intention and entrepreneurial
action may further strengthen this association, thereby
increasing an individual's chances of engaging in
entrepreneurial activities.
9. Conclusions
Our study follows the growing research interest in
Jordan Journal of Business Administration, Volume 20, No. 4, 2024
- 606 -
the field of entrepreneurship regarding the link between
attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and
entrepreneurial action.
Our research has the fundamental objective of studying
the relationship between ADHD behavior and
entrepreneurial behavior (entrepreneurial action) in Tunisian
students. To achieve this objective, our research is placed in
a positivist epistemological posture. Moreover, in order to
test our conceptual model, this research uses a quantitative
approach. Referring to Kristof-Brown et al.’s (2005) person-
environment adjustment theory (P-E) and Ajzen’s (1988)
theory of planned behavior (TPB), the results of the current
study show that entrepreneurial intention plays a mediating
role in the development of entrepreneurial action among
Tunisian students, especially in those with
hyperactive/impulsive behavior. Students who display
hyperactive/impulsive behavior are less likely to
venture into business creation. Therefore, the
formation of entrepreneurial intention is an essential
step for the development of entrepreneurial behavior.
Following the formation of intentions, Tunisian
students who display hyperactive/impulsive behavior
will be inclined to act according to these intentions and
invest significant effort to engage in business creation.
Finally, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first
study that highlights the mediating role of
entrepreneurial intention in the development of
entrepreneurial action in people with
hyperactive/impulsive behavior, in particular.
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