Neurodiverse individuals face significant barriers to traditional employment (Bruyère & Colella, 2022) and often experience higher levels of unemployment and underemployment than their neurotypical counterparts. Entrepreneurship may be an alternative career path for neurodiverse individuals, particularly with research expanding entrepreneurial typologies to include unconventional entrepreneurs (Auschra & Mai, 2024) and challenged entrepreneurs (Patton, 2024). Despite anecdotal evidence of the advantage of a diagnosis of neurodiversity on entrepreneurial success, relatively little is known about the entrepreneurial career aspirations of neurodiverse individuals. It is crucial to explore the entrepreneurial career aspirations of neurodiverse individuals because recent research has focused on the benefits of entrepreneurial careers for neurodiverse individuals (Moore, McIntyre, & Lanivich, 2021). There are many beneficial skills and abilities that neurodiverse individuals bring to the workplace (Austin & Pisano, 2017). Patton (2024) suggests that the skills and abilities of neurodiverse individuals may be well-suited for entrepreneurial activity. Neurodivergent entrepreneurs often possess high creativity, pay high attention to detail, have unique problem-solving skills, are innovative, and bring unique perspectives to their businesses (Krzeminska et al., 2019). Another manifestation of neurodiversity that is positively associated with successful entrepreneurship is hyper-focusing (Antshel, 2018). This research will examine the entrepreneurial career aspirations of neurodiverse individuals. Understanding the antecedents of entrepreneurial aspirations, as well as the factors that facilitate such aspirations has important implications for identifying alternative career paths for neurodivergent individuals. Entrepreneurship has the potential to offer positive career and life outcomes for neurodiverse individuals.
