Invited by the MEDports Association and its 5th General Assembly, PortEconomics member Michael Dooms along with Magali Geerts, presented their latest study on Port Sustainability which was supported by the Sustainability Committee of the MEDports Association.
Michael’s and Magali’s port study offers a multidimensional approach of the concept of sustainability reporting based on a global survey yielding 97 complete and valid answers of PMBs. A binomial logistic regression has been conducted to identify those internal determinants (organizational characteristics) that have the largest explanatory power when it comes to the adoption of the practice of sustainability reporting. The research results identify new internal variables compared to the results of previous studies, such as the proximity to a city, the history of data gathering and the presence of environmental/social certifications. Also investigates how these organizational characteristics are interlinked with external, contextual forces by making use of the institutional theory. By combining organizational characteristics with information of the institutional environment in which the PMB operates, a more complete image is obtained. The results of this analysis show that all different institutional pressures are in play when it comes to having influence on the decision-making of PMBs with regard to the adoption of sustainability reporting. Also, several prominent associations between one of the isomorphisms and certain organizational characteristics can be observed.
The presentation and the study can be downloaded via MEDports website.
