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Title: Stakeholder legitimacy and efficiency: the case of innovation at the Port of Tema, Ghana

Authors: George Acheampong; Jonas Aryee; Torben Andersen; Annette Skovsted Hansen

Addresses: Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship, University of Ghana Business School, Legon-Accra, Ghana; College of Business and Economics, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, Johannesburg, South Africa ' Regional Maritime University Nungua, P.O. GP 1115, Accra, Ghana ' Department of Business and Technology, Aarhus University, Birk Centerpark 15, 8001, 1309, 7400 Herning, Denmark ' School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Jens Chr. Skousvej 7, 4, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark

Abstract: Our study set out to explore the relationship between legitimacy in the form of social license that stakeholders grant the National Single Window Project (NSWP) and port efficiency at the Port of Tema, as well as bounding conditions on this relationship. We collected stakeholder legitimacy data in line with the social license to operate (SLO) framework on the National Single Window Project implementation at the port and stakeholder-perceived port efficiency in Tema. We found that there is an ∩-shaped relationship between legitimacy and port efficiency. We also found that port cooperation and relational intensity dampens the relationship between legitimacy and port efficiency. Our study offers an alternative to perspectives of port management that view ports as isolated units which provides a partial understanding of their functioning. We opine that viewing ports as networks of stakeholders provides an improved understanding.

Keywords: port efficiency; Africa; legitimacy; social license; stakeholders; innovation; Ghana.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBG.2022.122317

International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 2022 Vol.30 No.1, pp.92 - 110

Received: 20 May 2021
Accepted: 20 Oct 2021
Published online: 19 Apr 2022 *