Corporate sustainability of Portuguese seaports

Abstract

Responding to calls for studies examining corporate sustainability (CS) in a seaport setting, this study analyzes the Portuguese case since it is little known, despite some pioneering initiatives of Portuguese seaports as the development of the Logistic Single Window. Following a qualitative approach, information was collected through semi-structured interviews, publicly available news and videos, seaports' websites, and reports. Starting from Oliver's (1991) model, which combines institutional theory and resource dependence perspective, we extended the theory by adding the resource-based view to analyze the institutional factors that predict seaports' strategic responses to CS. Our findings suggest that, while CS interpretation by Portuguese seaports has an underlying acquiescence strategy, the way CS is put into practice reveals a compromise one. CS strategies are related to seaports' legitimacy and reveal great dependence on seaports from their external institutional context, resulting in a harmonious port-city relationship and promoting consistency between institutional pressures and organizational norms, voluntarily widespread in a context of great interconnectedness.