Rethinking Support: Understanding the Transition Challenges Facing Neurodivergent People Entering Work

Despite growing enrolment and graduation rates, neurodivergent students often experience significantly poorer labor market outcomes than their neurotypical peers. We explore this disparity through the lens of self-efficacy in the school-to-work transition. We draw on three studies conducted in France. Study 1 consists of 182 online qualitative surveys with neurodivergent business school students capturing their educational experiences and expectations about entering the workforce. Study 2 includes 30 in-depth interviews with neurodivergent employees who reflected retrospectively on their transition from school to work. Study 3 follows five neurodivergent individuals over three years, revealing how self-efficacy beliefs developed through repeated encounters with the realities of work. Findings suggest that, while well-intended school support can be vital for academic success, it does not necessarily foster the broader forms of self-efficacy needed for the transition into work, leaving some students underprepared for real-world demands. Based on our findings, we suggest that business schools supplement academic support with targeted efforts to build self-efficacy, relational confidence, life skills, and social modeling to better prepare neurodivergent students for the workplace. We contribute to management education by showing how inclusive accommodations, though important and vital for academic success, reshape the development of self-efficacy in complex ways.