The principal-agent problem in the inclusion of maritime transport into the EU ETS: Which kind of incentives are best?

IF 4.4 2区工程技术 Q2 BUSINESS

Research in Transportation Business and Management Pub Date : 2025-07-28 DOI:10.1016/j.rtbm.2025.101459

Umur Bucak , İlke Sezin Ayaz , Soner Esmer

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The maritime transport industry has been dramatically impacted by its inclusion into the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). The economic and environmental effectiveness of the system depends on maritime transport companies' rapidly adapting to EU ETS regulations. However, there may be a principal-agent problem between the main EU ETS bodies and the maritime transport industry. This study proposes an incentive system to enable shipping companies to rapidly adapt to the EU ETS and solve potential problems during the process. To develop the proposal, the study identified from the literature, and then qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed, potential incentives for shipping companies regarding the industry's position in the EU ETS, and collected data from experts working in shipping companies. The study was subjected to qualitative analysis based on literature using the MAXQDA 24 software, which enabled the visualization of relationships between incentives. Furthermore, the Best Worst method was employed to analyze the perceptions of experts on incentives quantitatively, with the objective of determining the most and worst favorable ones. The findings revealed various conflicts between the perceptions of researchers in the literature and selected experts working in shipping companies. Moreover, the analysis detected a principal-agent problem between shipowners and ship brokers regarding their expectations from incentives.

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将海运纳入欧盟排放交易体系中的委托代理问题：哪种激励措施是最好的？

海运业因被纳入欧盟排放交易体系（EU ETS）而受到巨大影响。该体系的经济效益和环境效益取决于海运公司能否迅速适应欧盟排放交易体系的规定。然而，主要欧盟排放交易体系机构与海运行业之间可能存在委托代理问题。本研究提出了一种激励机制，使航运公司能够快速适应EU ETS，并解决其过程中可能出现的问题。为了制定提案，该研究从文献中确定，然后定性和定量分析航运公司在欧盟排放交易体系中的地位的潜在激励因素，并从航运公司工作的专家那里收集数据。本研究采用MAXQDA 24软件对文献进行定性分析，使激励之间的关系可视化。此外，采用最佳最差方法来定量分析专家对激励措施的看法，以确定最有利和最不利的激励措施。研究结果揭示了文献中研究人员的看法与在航运公司工作的选定专家之间的各种冲突。此外，分析发现船东和船舶经纪人之间关于他们对激励的期望存在委托代理问题。

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来源期刊

Research in Transportation Business and Management Multiple-

CiteScore

7.10

自引率

8.30%

发文量

175

期刊介绍： Research in Transportation Business & Management (RTBM) will publish research on international aspects of transport management such as business strategy, communication, sustainability, finance, human resource management, law, logistics, marketing, franchising, privatisation and commercialisation. Research in Transportation Business & Management welcomes proposals for themed volumes from scholars in management, in relation to all modes of transport. Issues should be cross-disciplinary for one mode or single-disciplinary for all modes. We are keen to receive proposals that combine and integrate theories and concepts that are taken from or can be traced to origins in different disciplines or lessons learned from different modes and approaches to the topic. By facilitating the development of interdisciplinary or intermodal concepts, theories and ideas, and by synthesizing these for the journal''s audience, we seek to contribute to both scholarly advancement of knowledge and the state of managerial practice. Potential volume themes include: -Sustainability and Transportation Management- Transport Management and the Reduction of Transport''s Carbon Footprint- Marketing Transport/Branding Transportation- Benchmarking, Performance Measurement and Best Practices in Transport Operations- Franchising, Concessions and Alternate Governance Mechanisms for Transport Organisations- Logistics and the Integration of Transportation into Freight Supply Chains- Risk Management (or Asset Management or Transportation Finance or ...): Lessons from Multiple Modes- Engaging the Stakeholder in Transportation Governance- Reliability in the Freight Sector