2.6 Preventative Strategies for Unethical Professional Practices in Construction Industry
2.6.1 Managerial Measures .1 Transparency Mechanism
2.6 Preventative Strategies for Unethical Professional Practices in
plays a vital role in promoting efficient transformation of resources into long- term economic development. The statement is buttressed by Ling, et al. (2014) who stated that transparency in public projects is particularly essential to alleviate the corruption issue in construction industry. The study conducted by Akinrata and Ogungbile (2018) in Nigeria uncovered that most of the respondents from Nigerian construction industry agreed that transparency and accountability in contract administration are critical in combatting unethical professional practices. Similarly, the importance of transparency mechanism is recognised in a study conducted in Hong Kong, which revealed that transparency ranked first among other managerial measures of corruption, with a mean score of 4.18 (Owusu, et al., 2020b).
To make transparency effective, it is necessary to ensure that the information disclosures to be precise, relevant, timely and accessible (Natural Resource Governance Institute, 2018). Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development (2015) suggested that transparency shall be promoted to preserve integrity and public interest. Promoting transparency particularly in the official departments contributes to a reduction in unethical behaviour at the same time raises public awareness of the goods and services they deserve (Sohail and Cavill, 2008). An example of transparency promoting instrument is Integrity Pacts. To promote transparency, Transparency International advocates the use of Integrity Pacts as an instrument to combat corruption in public contracting. Integrity Pact is developed to allow third party to supervise and monitor with the aim to boost transparency in public contracting. It enhances access to information and alleviates corruption practices (Transparency International, n.d.).
2.6.1.2 Leadership
Abah and Nwoba (2016) described leadership as a dynamic process in a team, which the leader influences other members to contribute voluntarily with the intention to achieve certain goals. Leaders in a project team or organisational team can develop values and criteria required for a successful delivery of a project. The efforts in controlling corrupt practices will be more effective if the leaders aware of the diminishing of corruption could bring beneficial
impacts to projects. Leadership is said that to be responsible for a fair and transparent working environment (Tabish and Jha, 2012). Leaders who discharge duties with ethics act as a role model to subordinates and can change the atmosphere at working place towards a more ethical style of working ambience (Khan, Khan and Soomro, 2019).
The importance of good leadership in facilitating the prevention of unethical professional conducts is discussed in various studies (Bowen, Edwards and Cattell, 2012; Le, et al., 2014b; Brown and Loosemore, 2015).
Holliday (2017) asserted that to achieve high ethical standards in an organisation, leaders or senior executives need to be good role model. Leaders carry responsibility to influence the overall organisational culture. The importance of forming organisational culture by leaders is stressed by Holliday (2017), claiming that even though even if there is code of conduct, it is unlikely to work effectively as long as there is a norm to disregard the code of conduct in an organisation. In view of this, leaders shall ensure that their actions and working styles are in line with the code of conducts. A survey conducted in Malaysia indicated that more than half of the respondents from construction industry agreed leadership serves as role model to enhance professional ethics. Leaders shall demonstrate ethical professional practices as their actions would impact other employees (Abdul-Rahman, Hanid and Yap, 2014). Likewise, in India, study proves that leadership appears to be the most significant strategy in combatting corrupt practices in India (Tabish and Jha, 2012). Abah and Nwoba (2016) pointed out that not every leader is working for integrity. In general conditions, there are some leaders who strike for money and power in performing their duties, which can lead to unethical conducts.
2.6.1.3 Application of E-Procurement
Information is in rising demand and supply in this information era. Particularly with technology advancement, the revealing of project information is increasingly easy and convenient. This leads to growing expectations of higher transparency and accountability especially for public projects (López and Fontaine, 2019). Information technology improves overall transparency and
competitiveness in a business (Eei, Husain and Mustaffa, 2012). Tabish and Jha (2012) pointed out that digitalisation especially in tendering process could bring transparency to the project.
E-procurement system is particularly useful in enhancing transparency and accountability in tendering procedures (Eei, Husain and Mustaffa, 2012;
Neupane, Soar and Vaidya, 2014; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2016). E-procurement is the application of integrated information technology throughout the procurement process (Trkman and McCormack, 2010). It allows the public available to access the information of public works’ open procurement online (Neupane, Soar and Vaidya, 2014).
Besides, e-procurement avoids direct contact between procurement parties and the tenderers, at the same time detecting unethical conducts such as bid rigging throughout the procurement process (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2016). To ensure effectiveness of e-procurement, Neupane, Soar and Vaidya (2014) suggested that it is vital to identify the key measures of avoiding unethical conducts and incorporate them into the design of e- procurement system. An example of e-procurement system is KONEPS in Korea, which had been introduced in 2002. KONEPS covers the entire procurement system and provides an online platform for information exchange. Korean central procurement agency, Public Procurement Service (PPS) revealed that KONEPS plays a vital role in enhancing transparency and forestalling unethical professional practices in tendering stage (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2016).
2.6.1.4 Institutional Accountability
Sinclair (1995) defined accountability as taking responsibility for the actions conducted. It exists in the relationship between people, or in the performances that are subjected to another’s control, to provide justification or information for the actions conducted (López and Fontaine, 2019). The increase in institutional accountability is a means to create transparency atmosphere in an organisation, whereas greater transparency plays a significant role in alleviating corruption practices (Sohail and Cavill, 2008; Bowen, Edwards and Cattell, 2012; Lyrio, Lunkes and Taliani, 2018). Brusca, Manes Rossi and
Aversano (2018) collected data from 75 countries and proved that accountability brings significant impact to ethical behaviours. This statement is corroborated by a study conducted in Hong Kong. Construction stakeholders in Hong Kong construction industry believed that enhancement in institutional accountability will be one of the useful preventative strategies for unethical professional practices (Owusu, et al., 2020b).
2.6.1.5 Disclosure of Vital Information
Transparency International advocated easy and accessible disclosure of vital information for public (Transparency International, 2020c). Disclosure of project information is said to be an effective measure to improve transparency in construction industry (Kenny, 2012; Ling, et al., 2014; López and Fontaine, 2019). A study conducted in Hong Kong suggested disclosure of vital project information such as financial report will be effective in preventing unethical professional practice such as corruption (Owusu, et al., 2020b). Revealing information such as public accounts, budgets, contractual arrangements and annual reports can forestall unethical conducts such as misallocation of resources (Sohail and Cavill, 2008). The disclosure of information is particularly vital in public projects to give public an overview on the distribution of public funds (Kenny, 2012). It is also worth noting that the publication of project details could further benefits the construction parties in terms of reducing legal costs of contracting and improvement in future projects (Kenny, 2012). Meanwhile, Transparency International asserted that access to information by public could effectively promote transparency, which in turn create a healthy environment for civil society to operate (Transparency International, 2017).
2.6.1.6 Adequate and Prompt Payment of Professional’s Remuneration Professionals tend to involve in unethical professional practices if there is insufficient remuneration for their services. Late and insufficient payments from client propels unethical professional practices and causes professionals tend to rely on the contractors and subcontractors. Hence, clients from both public and private sectors shall ensure adequate and prompt remuneration for
professional services to prevent professionals from conducting unethical practices due to financial reason (Ameh and Odusami, 2010). Additionally, the study conducted by Shah and Alotaibi (2018) revealed that industry practitioners agreed that enhancement in employees’ working benefit, especially in terms of salary increment, would bring a positive effect in discouraging them from conducting unethical practices.
2.6.1.7 Checks and Balances
Brown and Loosemore (2015) referred checks and balances as a system to inspect, veto or amend acts of another branch of authority to prevent the exploitation of power. In checks and balances system, a powerful third party or external agency is put in place to inspect the powers delegated to the project team. This could enhance transparency and accountability to mitigate unethical professional practices in the industry.
2.6.2 Regulatory Measures