While entrepreneurial behaviour is generally seen to arise from a reasoned, judgement-then-action pathway, evidence of an alternative is emerging. Yet, this alternative – an unreasoned, impulse-driven pathway remains to be empirically explored. We develop a novel measure to capture this unreasoned pathway and test a mediation model explaining how multidimensional trait impulsivity impacts entrepreneurial behaviour via this pathway. Employing structural equation modelling with longitudinal survey data from owner-managers and several robustness tests, we find compelling support for our model. We demonstrate a lack of reasoning, exhibited through placing more salience on an entrepreneurial opportunity’s desirability than feasibility, as a critical pathway explaining how impulsivity encourages entrepreneurial behaviour and overcomes the inhibitory effects of uncertainty in entrepreneurial pursuits. These results advance a rapidly unfolding scholarly debate regarding whether all entrepreneurial behaviour ought to be ascribed a reasoned, intendedly rational role, the implications of which extend to theories of entrepreneurial behaviour and the inclusion of an unreasoned pathway within them.

人们通常认为企业家行为是由理性，判断-然后-行动的途径引起的，但另类替代的证据正在涌现。但是，这种替代方法-一种无理的，由冲动驱动的途径仍需凭经验进行探索。我们开发了一种新颖的方法来捕获这一不合理的途径，并测试了一个中介模型，该模型解释了多维特征冲动如何通过该途径影响企业家行为。通过使用具有所有者管理者纵向调查数据的结构方程模型以及几个稳健性测试，我们为模型找到了令人信服的支持。我们表现​​出缺乏理性，这是通过对企业家机会的可取性而不是可行性的重视来表现出来的，作为解释冲动如何鼓励企业家行为并克服不确定性对企业家追求的抑制作用的重要途径。这些结果推动了关于是否应该将所有企业家行为归因于理性的，有意的理性作用，其作用扩展到企业家行为的理论并在其中包含不合理的途径。