Venturing Decisions of Neurodivergent People Who Defy to be Bounded by Rationality

This chapter builds on the extant research that identifies attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as a propeller of entrepreneurial action, as ADHD causes impulsively made nonrational venturing decisions that are hard to be dared by neurotypicals. I augment this research by arguing here that other forms of neurodiversity, that is, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), dyslexia, and dyspraxia, also enable nonrational venturing decisions. In the relative absence of empirical research showing how these forms of neurodiversity influence entrepreneurial decision-making, I identify possible mechanisms that can foster different forms of nonrational decision-making in the venturing decisions of neurodivergent people. In this pursuit, I first clarify various conceptualizations of rational decision-making. I then explore the conditions of neurodivergent people and how their conditions support possibilities of nonrational venturing decisions under different levels of uncertainty. I argue that people with ADHD can make motivationally irrational decisions because of their hyperactivity and impulsivity. By contrast, because of their cognitive inflexibilities, people with ASD can make intendedly rational but instrumentally irrational decisions under uncertainty. Finally, as people with dyslexia and dyspraxia may over-rely on heuristics, they can make instrumentally irrational decisions under low or high levels of uncertainty. As long as individuals learn from mistakes and apply such knowledge, neurodiversity is valuable for entrepreneurship.