Maritime social sustainability: Conceptualization and scale development
Maria Karakasnaki, Angelos Pantouvakis, Ilias Vlachos
Abstract
The maritime transportation sector has been actively encouraging economic, environmental, and social sustainability. However, academic research on maritime social sustainability is still limited. This study provides a comprehensive conceptualization of maritime social responsibility and investigates whether the flag of the vessel, impacts this conceptualization. Using data from many seafarers globally, the present study empirically confirms and validates that maritime social responsibility is a multidimensional construct, consisting of (i) physical, (ii) functional, (iii) healthy, (iv) cultural, and (v) communication components. Findings show that seafarers’ perceptions do not differ based on the flag of the vessel of their employment. The present study offers valuable insight to understand maritime social sustainability and extends the literature on the linkage between vessel flags and working and living aspects onboard. It provides managerial and policy implications.