Defining a social role for ports: managers’ perspectives on whats and whys

It is undoubtedly true that ports can modify aspects of the regions where they are inserted in many different ways. Scholars have presented various perspectives on the influence of ports in society, including their roles according to their purpose. Surprisingly, in the age of sustainable development, the social roles of ports have not been explored in depth, and this offers an opportunity to increase the knowledge of this sector. This paper aims to investigate how managers in ports perceive their roles in the social dimension and why they think they should exist, presenting opportunities to align business objectives with the expectations of other stakeholders. Applying the content analysis technique, 28 interviews were conducted with managers in Brazilian ports and themes were developed to represent their views on social roles (5) and the reasons for adopting them (6). Overall, managers perceive social roles as part of the strategic business plan and present reasons to adopt them, ranging from compulsory to voluntary. Conclusions suggest that more needs to be done to expand the understanding of a pragmatic approach to social roles and to develop more focused actions according to the reasons for adopting social roles.