Measuring Environmental Sustainability at Borderland Ports: Development and Validationof a Multidimensional Scale
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33152/jmphss-10.4.7Keywords:
Borderland ports, Border crossing points, Environmental sustainability, Scale development, Sustainable development goals, Environmental and Social Framework, CARECAbstract
Borderland ports are vital nodes along land-based trade corridors, but their environmental performance has been under studiedmand measured. While seaports and dry ports benefit from expanding sustainability indicators, no psychometrically validated instrument exists for evaluating environmental sustainability at borderland ports. This study develops and validates a multidimensional scale for assessing environmental sustainability at borderland ports. Drawing on the port sustainability literature, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Environmental and Social Framework of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), we conceptualize the construct in terms of eight dimensions: good health and well-being, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, climate action, life on land, and partnerships for the goals. A 64-item instrument was administered in two sequential survey waves to stakeholders at Pakistan’s three major borderland ports. Principal axis factoring with Direct Oblimin rotation of the first-wave dataset (N = 730) supported the eight-factor structure, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranging from .881 to .948. Confirmatory factor analysis of the second-wave dataset (N = 730) supported the correlated eight-factor first-order model (CMIN/DF = 2.769; CFI = .971; TLI = .917; SRMR = .043; RMSEA = .049; PClose = .779), with satisfactory convergent and discriminant validity. Environmental sustainability at borderland ports is thus a coherent, measurable construct, offering governments and development partners a diagnostic and benchmarking tool for greening border infrastructure across the Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) region.
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