Cooperation or conflict? Evaluating stakeholders’ relationship alignment between a port authority and terminal operators

Ports are complex environments in which several stakeholders operate, often with conflicting interests and goals. In the landlord port model, the two most important port stakeholders, representing, respectively, public and private interests, are the port authority and the terminal operators. Hence, understanding the intra-port relationship under different relationship dimensions can shed light on potential areas of port’s conflicts and identify corrective action to enhance cooperation. We apply a co-orientation model combined with different relationship measures to the port of Busan, one of the leading container ports worldwide. We aim at finding out the degree of agreement, accurate perception, and perception of perceived agreement (congruency) between the Busan Port Authority (BPA) and three terminal operators. The results suggest that the port authority and the terminal operators are in consensus in relation to control mutuality and satisfaction but disagree under the two relationship dimensions of trust and commitment (false consensus). These findings can provide a useful measurement tool to evaluate the relationships of multiple port’s stakeholders and, therefore, identify potential conflicts of interests and objectives’ misalignment among them.