Anchoring Circularity: Governing Board Features and Circular Economy Disclosure Across European Union Ports

Ports play a pivotal role in global trade and regional development, but their activities also generate significant environmental pressures. In response, European Union (EU) ports are increasingly engaging with the circular economy ( CE ), adopting practices aimed at enhancing resource efficiency, reducing waste, and fostering sustainable growth. However, the effectiveness of this transition depends not only on the implementation of circular initiatives but also on the transparency with which these initiatives are communicated. CE disclosure (CED) has thus become essential for demonstrating ports' commitment to circularity, meeting stakeholder expectations, and aligning with evolving regulatory and societal demands. Despite its growing relevance, CED in ports remains largely underexplored in the academic literature. This study addresses this gap by assessing the level of CED provided by EU ports through their official websites and by examining how governing board characteristics influence the extent of such disclosure. Drawing on stakeholder–agency theory, this study examines whether three governing board attributes—size, female representation, and independence—shape the extent of CED. The analysis is based on an original disclosure index structured across ten thematic areas and on a manual content analysis of official port websites, complemented by an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression applied to a sample of 190 EU ports to test the proposed hypotheses. The findings reveal that CED levels remain moderate, indicating that many ports are still in an early stage of communicating their circular initiatives. The size and independence of the governing board positively influence CED, whereas female representation has no significant effect.