A STAMP-Informed framework for classifying interorganizational risk management challenges in ports

• Reveals systemic challenges undermining interorganizational risk management in ports. • Combines natural language processing with systems-theoretic analysis of challenges. • Applies the Systems-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes (STAMP) to risk management. • Offers a replicable framework to improve coordination and safety across organizations. Interorganizational Risk Management (IRM) is critical in port operations, where actors such as port authorities, shipping companies, and terminal operators must coordinate safety and risk governance across organizational boundaries. Traditional risk management approaches often neglect how failures emerge from systemic misalignments in control structures, feedback mechanisms, and interorganizational coordination. This study systematically classifies IRM challenges in port settings using the Systems-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes (STAMP) as an analytical lens to explore how such challenges are conceptualized in existing literature. Rather than modeling specific control systems, we map IRM challenges to STAMP components to identify commonly disrupted control functions. Based on a structured analysis of 50 peer-reviewed studies published between 2014 and 2024, we extract 233 quotes describing IRM challenges. Using a hybrid methodology that combines inductive coding, semantic clustering supported by natural language processing (NLP), and deductive mapping to STAMP, we identify 14 IRM challenge categories. These are grouped into three control layers: Strategic, Operative, and Adaptive. Each category is linked to specific STAMP control structure components to illustrate patterns in how interorganizational coordination is affected. Findings show that IRM challenges are concentrated in areas involving feedback loops, control logic, and constraints. This approach offers a novel system-theoretic classification of IRM challenges and contributes a transparent, replicable method for analyzing challenges in complex organizational networks. The paper also identifies future research opportunities, including expert validation, cross-regional comparison, and the use of organizational mechanisms to support IRM in ports.