Conditions Under Which the Behavior of Employees with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder is Misperceived as Low Job Performance

JeongJin Kim

Advisor: Reeshad S. Dalal, PhD, Department of Psychology

Committee Members: Seth Kaplan, Sarah Wittman

Horizon Hall, #4016
July 22, 2025, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Abstract:

Neurodiverse individuals encounter work- and career-related challenges, such as high un-/underemployment, barriers to promotion, and interpersonal conflict. Integrating attribution theory with literatures on job performance, counterproductive work behavior (CWB), and neurodiversity, I propose that the behaviors of employees with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)—which I refer to as ADHD behavior—conceptually overlap with low levels of job performance behaviors (low job performance in short), and that some ADHD behavior is misperceived as harmful or counterproductive and is misattributed as low job performance by their interaction partners at work. A content validation study (Study 1; n1 = 100–102) showed that some ADHD behavior items were weakly distinctive from low task performance items and some CWB items, more so items involving mild than severe forms of CWB. An artificial intelligence (specifically, large language model) analysis of Reddit posts (Study 2; n2 = 3,000 posts) further supported Study 1 findings that there exists conceptual overlap of ADHD behavior with CWB and low task performance. Additionally, an experimental vignette study (Study 3a; n3a = 574) showed that being aware of an actor’s ADHD predicted an observer’s (mis)attribution (i.e., controllability and responsibility judgments) about the actor’s ADHD behavior, which in turn influenced the actor’s overall performance ratings. Another experimental vignette study (Study 3b; n3b = 496) was used to strengthen the causal inference of Study 3a findings. Taken together, this research advances our knowledge of how employee cognitions/beliefs regarding ADHD influence attribution and performance appraisal.