Managing port e‐services in a socio‐technical context

The paper presents a theoretical framework and an empirical examination of the provision of port e‐services through exploratory research. The presented survey examines the socio‐technical environment in which port e‐services are developed and provided, as well as the related investment decision making and evaluation procedures, in the Greek port sector. A number of hindering and enabling management and organisational factors are identified towards fully exploiting ICT capabilities and port e‐services; our framework is deemed to be applicable to ports with similar geopolitical, economic, industrial and management characteristics to those of the examined organisations. The research outcome is a first step towards the provision of a systematic, unified framework for analysing and planning port e‐services initiatives, in a socio‐technical context.