Investigation of Unethical Practices in the Construction Industry and Potential Preventive Measures Using Nigeria as Case Study
CHAPTER ONE
Aim and objectives of the study
The aim of the study is to investigated the unethical practices in the construction industry and potential preventive measures in Nigeria. The following are the specific objectives of the study:
- To examine the unethical practices in the construction industry in Nigeria
- To examine the effects of unethical professional practices on project performance in Nigeria
- To examine the remedies for Unethical Professional Practices in Nigeria
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Unethical behaviour in the construction industry
There is an increasing agreement in and out of the industry of construction, that corruption as well as other unethical conducts are prevalent in the industry. Issues of ethics in the construction sector ought to be viewed as something of importance; it will assist to dismiss the ideas that matters like those are less vital to the industry of construction (Sinha et al, 2004). There are two assertions for the assumption that the ethical issues of professionals in the modern world are not mainly because of lack of knowledge. The first thing is that in the unofficial dialogue between unethical activity victims and the professional actors, the accused professional hardly ever takes the solid position that there is nothing as professional ethical duties. The duty here is intricate and ethical problems in this scenario ought to be taken into consideration (Uff, 2003). Among the most prevalent unethical behaviours in business is corruption, defined as: “the giving of some good, money or service to a suitable individual for the aim of obtaining an advantaged and positive thought (or acquisition) of one’s corporate project or product” (Vee and Skitmore, 2003).
Other regularly reported untrustworthy practices are associated with misrepresentation, carelessness and break of certainty. Deceptive natures, sharp practices, dishonesty, or break of certainty, whereby it tries to get some exploitative and out of line favourable position, is the meaning of the unscrupulous routine of extortion (Vee and Skitmore, 2003). It is said the dishonest behaviour does not eventuate from an individual’s childhood, but rather it is a piece of the strategy of learning reasonable business or being brought into the practice (Vee and Skitmore, 2003). Olusegun et al (2011) demonstrated that there is unlawfully consumed in pay off and violation to administration authorities in Government workplaces amid the grant of agreement, execution and in addition instalments. Patrick (2006) expressed that debasement can happen in various structures and different courses and at any stage of the project amid the construction venture life cycle. A study done by (Vee and Skitmore, 2003; Pearl et al, 2007) in Australia exposed that there are many kinds of ethical dilemmas and unethical practices in the construction industry like negligence, corruption, bribery, bid cutting, under bidding, cover pricing, frontloading, collusive tendering, bid shopping, and withdrawal of tender. Moreover, they also classified these unethical practices into four universal kinds of actions known as conflicts of interest and they are: 1) unfair conduct, 2) fraud, 3) collusion, and 4) bribery.
Construction engineering expert witness Paul Gogulski (2014) indicated that owners in the Middle East are known to be customarily late in payment, resulting to substantial bankruptcy of contractors. A questionnaire study conducted in USA amongst the construction managers, architects, contractors, and subcontractors and representatives of the industry revealed that over 80 percent of respondents have seen untrustworthy behaviour in the construction industry. Offered hones, especially invert barters and offer shopping, got solid remarks in this review. The lion’s share saw the need for everyone to have and impart moral codes to specialists however, not many practice this procedure.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
This research used explorative and descriptive survey methods. The explorative method employs literature search to obtain the unethical practices in the construction industry and potential preventive measures. Afterwards, interviewed eight (8) academicians’ who are construction experts from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi-Nigeria, to inputs on the literature findings. The experts have over 15 years’ experience traversing the entire country and were drawn from the departments of: Architecture, Building, Civil engineering and, Quantity surveying. Their academic status are: Professors (3), Associate Professors (2), and Senior Lecturers (3; two Ph.D. holders and one Ph.D. research student). The explorative method produced 20 effects and 13 possible remedies. The descriptive survey method used the findings from the explorative method as the basis of ranking in the research questionnaire.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA COLLECTION, DATA ANALYSIS, RESULTS, CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATIONS
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
SUMMARY
This research used Kruskal-Wallis analysis-of-variance (Kruskal-Wallis H-test) to test its hypotheses. Kruskal-Wallis H-test is used to tests for differences in the way three or more independent groups or samples rank a variable in order to establish whether the independent groups or samples are from the same population (Seigel, 1956 cited in McNabb, 2009). Table 1 shows the details of the hypotheses test. The research Rejected the two null hypothesis; because the computed chi-square value is greater than the chi-square table value at 5% significance level and the computed p-value is less than the study p-value of 0.05 (McNabb, 2009).
Conclusion
This study sought to investigate the unethical practices in the construction industry and potential preventive measures in Nigeria, through explorative and questionnaire survey methods. This study was informed by the widespread evidence of unethical professional practices in the NCI. These practices are seriously affecting the performance of construction projects and the role of the industry in enhancing the economic growth of the country. The research result reveals that all the respondents are in agreement that all the identified effects of unethical professional practices are severe on construction project performance in Nigeria. Vulnerability to frequent maintenance work, delays and cost overruns are the extremely severe effects. The respondents are also in agreement that the remedies identified for curbing unethical professional practices are effective. Adherence to professional ethics, transparency and accountability in contract administration, and the use of approved construction designs from certified professionals are considered highly effective for curbing unethical professional practices.
Recommendations of the study
The research recommends construction professional bodies, construction regulatory bodies and the government to adopt the research finding on the remedies and these organizations should be synergize in implementing the remedies for curbing unethical professional practices in Nigeria. The research result will assist in curbing unethical practices, thus, facilitates professionalism in the NCI to meet international best practice. Though this study was delimited to identifying the effects of unethical professional practices on the performance of construction projects in Nigeria and the likely remedies for curbing it, more study can be conducted on how construction professional bodies, construction regulatory bodies and the government can be synergize in implementing the remedies for curbing unethical professional practices in Nigeria.
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