A STUDY OF COMMON UNETHICAL PRACTICES AND CHALLENGES TO COMPLYING WITH A CODE OF CONDUCT AMONG PROFESSIONALS IN THE MALAYSIAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Abstract

The construction industry is a complex and demanding commercial area. As in other disciplines, ethical practices in the construction industry are crucial. The quality of the project, customers' trust, and investors' confidence in the construction business are all negatively impacted by unethical acts and the practices themselves. Hence, the goal of this study is to identify the most prevalent types of unethical practices among professionals in the construction industry and to evaluate the obstacles that prevent them from upholding the code of ethics. A quantitative approach was used to collect empirical data by sending the questionnaire survey amongst professionals in the construction industry, such as contractors, consultants, and project managers. The collected data was analysed using a descriptive version of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences for Windows Version (SPSS) 29 software, such as mean score, percentage, and frequency. The study found that unethical practises like rate overpricing, bid cutting, delay, and short payments; bribes for projects; nepotism; use of lower-grade materials than specified; tender manipulation; and contractors' personnel failing to dispose of waste in an appropriate, safe, and environmentally acceptable manner are still common and persistent. This is true even though the majority of organisations have their own standards of conduct and professional bodies that encourage good ethics. The main obstacles to eliminating the unethical conduct mentioned above are greed, acceptance as standard procedure, ignorance of laws and regulations, lack of authorization for the compliance department, cognitive biases and psychological tendencies, and insufficient support from the government. It is hoped that the study's findings will significantly help regulatory agencies and legislators recognize and prevent unethical practices, and the study also suggests that there may be fewer unethical practices in the construction industry if there are adequate punishments for unethical practices at different stages of a project's life cycle and more people know about the ideals of ethical practices at different stages.