An Exploration of Social License to Operate (SLTO) Measurement in the Port Industry: The Case of North America

Abstract

In this paper, we develop exploratory research to improve the understanding of actual practices applied in the port industry relating to local communities’ perception measurement and public engagement, aiming at maintaining and fostering relationships with local communities. The application of such practices would allow port managing bodies to improve their strategic alignment with the needs and requirements of their local communities. To this end, we distributed a survey to North American port managing bodies and terminal operators. The survey, answered by 37 respondents, follows a structure defined by critical elements affecting stakeholder perceptions and acceptability in relation to a project or an ongoing business activity. The results disclose differences in social license to operate measurement and public engagement practices between port managing bodies and terminal operators. Furthermore, follow-up interviews were conducted with eight port managing bodies in order to capture the value added and the barriers to engage with local communities. Finally, the study enables benchmarking possibilities both within the sample and on a global level, giving an indication and assessment of the respondents’ competitive positions regarding stakeholder perceptions, communication, and engagement practices, and the steps to be taken in order to strengthen any strategic and competitive state.

Love Thy Neighbour: Social Benefits and Port-City Relationships

“…Response levels for questions varied, with a maximum of 51 participants and a minimum of 33 participants responding per question. This is a sufficient number of participants for research into ports and compares with the sample size of other similar studies such as that of Moeremans and Dooms [13].…”

“…This shows for the first time in the literature that the finding of the European Sea Ports Organisation [16] that improving relations with the local community is a top 10 priority of ports appears to be supported globally and is not specific to Europe. The desire to achieve a so-called societal license to operate, as discussed in work such as that of Moeremans and Dooms [13], appears to therefore be a global desire. There is a strong global consensus that ports should create additional local benefits and that the local population should be knowledgeable of these benefits.…”

“…If future port-city development is to be sustainable, it should seek to restore this relationship to its full potential, allowing the residents to gain more significant benefits from the port's presence. The reversal of this process can be achieved by working towards what has been termed in the literature as the societal license to operate (SLO) [13]. The SLO is defined by Pages Sanchez [14] as "fulfilling the expectations of stakeholders and local communities in dimensions that go beyond the creation of wealth".…”

A Virtuous Circle? Increasing Local Benefits from Ports by Adopting Circular Economy Principles

“…Response levels varied from a maximum of 51 to a minimum of 33 respondents per question. This was an acceptable number of participants for research into ports and compares with the sample size of other similar studies, such as Moeremans and Dooms [72], and ensured the sample was global, addressing the call for greater representation from developing regions [48].…”

Evaluating the social license to operate of waste-to-energy incineration projects: A case study from the Yangtze River Delta of China

“…As for the "continuous acceptance" of the project by the local community, which cannot be easily maintained (Gehman, 2017), in the 1990s, the SLO was first applied to the mining industry, before gradually attracting people's attention when the United States, Australia, Canada, and other countries began its study (Moeremans, 2021). Many companies expanded the interests of local communities by minimizing unexpected impacts and encouraging citizen participation to establish a good reputation as much as possible and prevent the future increase of regulatory restrictions (Jijelava and Vanclay, 2017).…”