Blue economy investment and sustainability of Ghana’s territorial waters: an application of structural equation modelling

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite the fact that Blue Economy Investment (BEI) contributes immensely towards sustainable use of marine resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, employment and healthy marine ecosystem, little efforts have been made to encourage sustainable investment in this area. In Ghana, the Marine Pollution Act 2016 (Act, 932) was promulgated to prevent, regulate and control pollution within Ghana’s territorial waters. Meanwhile, the health of Ghana’s oceans keeps deteriorating. This paper aims to develop an integrative model to enhance BEI through Sustainable Supply Chain Performance (SSCP) by integrating competing theories to attract sustainable investment to conserve and make sustainable use of marine resources. We anchored our study on quantitative research approach and a cross-sectional survey data. Our hypotheses have been tested using variance-based Structural Equation Modeling and SMART-PLS version 3.3.1. The study has revealed that organisational factors, technological factors, supply chain risk, green environmental awareness, perceived cost and regulatory environment are significant determinants of BEI. Moreover, BEI significantly drives SSCP. Again, BEI significantly mediates the relation between its determinants and SSCP. The implications include the emergence of an integrated model which could be used to improve marine resources investment and the realisation of Sustainable Development Goals 3, 13 and 14.