Who benefits from ADHD in entrepreneurship? Intelligence and gender as critical boundary conditions

Abstract

Emerging research on neurodivergence and entrepreneurship suggests that attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may confer advantages for entrepreneurship, though empirical evidence remains heterogeneous. Drawing on person–environment fit theory, this study examines intelligence and gender as important boundary conditions to theorize and test which individuals with ADHD are more likely to become entrepreneurs. Using longitudinal data spanning 28 years from 4128 individuals in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 79 Child and Young Adult (NLSY79 CYA) dataset, we assess how childhood ADHD predicts adult occupational choices. We find no direct relationship between ADHD and entrepreneurship but identify significant interaction effects. Intelligence increases entrepreneurial entry among individuals with ADHD, but this effect is concentrated among men. Men with both high intelligence and ADHD show the highest propensity for entrepreneurship, and women with ADHD show the lowest entrepreneurship rates of any group in our sample, regardless of intelligence, with ADHD associated with reduced entrepreneurial entry for women. These opposing gender‐specific effects cancel out in the aggregate, helping explain the inconsistent findings in prior research. Our findings advance neurodiversity research by identifying critical boundary conditions, extend the gender and entrepreneurship literature by showing how neurodiversity amplifies gender gaps in entrepreneurial entry, and contribute to person‐environment fit theory by demonstrating how configurations of personal characteristics, not single attributes, determine occupational selection.