Letting go of ghost ships and the longitudinal development of opportunity-cost fear among students in entrepreneurial teams

Purpose A longitudinal account of opportunity-cost fear in entrepreneurship education is developed and tested. Opportunity-cost fear is anxiety that venture participation displaces other valued activities, life events and relationships. The study asks whether students’ perceptions of alignment and conflict within educational venture teams are associated with this fear as projects unfold. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on appraisal theory, entrepreneurial emotion and new venture team research, the study analyses three matched survey waves from 74 entrepreneurship students. The unit of analysis is the individual student, with alignment, conflict and quality treated as perceptions of the student’s venture team. Findings Opportunity-cost fear increased significantly across the project, with the reliable increase concentrated between T1 and T2. Improvement in perceived team alignment over T2–T3 was associated with lower T3 fear in the alignment model and remained negative but marginal in the combined model, while rising perceived conflict over the same interval was associated with higher T3 fear in both specifications. Originality/value The study distinguishes opportunity-cost fear from fear of venture failure and shows how a personal appraisal of sacrifice develops within a team-based educational experience. It contributes to entrepreneurship education by treating venture teams as pedagogical conditions that can make intensive project work feel purposeful or wasteful. The findings support course designs that make team expectations explicit, revisit alignment, address escalating conflict and recognise learning without equating commitment with unqualified sacrifice.