A study of quantity surveyors' ethical behaviour

Abstract

Several contemporary theories of ethics are reviewed and then linked to professional ethics. A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect primary data regarding quantity surveyors' attitudes towards professional ethics. The subjects were members of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors (HKIS). Systematic multivariate statistical analyses, such as ANOVA, F-distribution, and test for significance, were used to draw insight from the survey results. A discrepancy in the standards of professional ethics between senior and junior surveyors was found in the survey. In addition, wide and significant variances towards ethical concepts and decisionmaking considerations were found between senior and young practitioners. The results also show that the respondents attach great importance to the interest of their employers, their clients and themselves, which is not in line with the expectations of the general public. These findings provide useful information for researchers in studying specific ethical decision-making models as well as drafting more theoretically based rules of conduct.

Predictor Role of Profession in Explaining Personal Value Priorities and Conflicts between Construction Stakeholders

“…financial reward) whereas they were less supportive of values such as hedonism, stimulation, tradition, and universalism. These findings were in line with the findings of previous research where the authors found efficiency, financial security, decision making and providence as the values more supported by quantity surveyors (Fan, Ho and Ng, 2001;Alfred, 2007;Bowen et al, 2007). Therefore, quantity surveyors could be defined through their values as those who care about advancement and professional growth.…”

“…But, the literature indicates that there is a lack of knowledge and effective research in terms of the relationship between "profession" variable and personal values. Some studies have focused exclusively on specific professions like IT professionals (Dinger, Thatcher and Stepina, 2010), engineers (Munson and Posner, 1979;Wnek and Williamson, 2010;Koth, 2011;Daniela et al, 2013), R&D professionals (Chang, Choi and Kim, 2008), architects (Bond et al, 2004;Nelson and Shavitt, 2002;Svee, 2014), quantity surveyors (Fan, Ho and Ng, 2001;Alfred, 2007;Bowen et al, 2007) and nurses (Cooman et al, 2008;Hegney, Plank and Parker, 2006). Most of them explained personal values in terms of specific characteristics of the profession and did not generalize their findings beyond that profession.…”

“…Although some scholars particularly focused on personal values of construction participants (i.e. Munson and Posner, 1979;Daniela et al, 2013;Bond et al, 2004;Nelson and Shavitt, 2002;Svee, 2014;Fan, Ho and Ng, 2001;Alfred, 2007;Bowen et al, 2007), but the study of Thomson and Austin (2006) can be considered as the most specific attempt to assess personal values of construction stakeholders. Thomson and Austin (2006) introduced VALiD (value in design) in UK construction industry.…”

Situational Influences on Quantity Surveyors when Facing Ethical Dilemmas

“…The population of the study is those quantity surveyors having a membership in the Quantity Surveying Division (QSD) of Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors (HKIS) and practicing in Hong Kong [1]. "Snowball" sampling method was used and the self-administered questionnaires were distributed to quantity surveyors practicing in the five types of organizations, i.e.…”

Automated Data Acquisition and Planning of Highway Construction

“…Of these operations, earthmoving operations generally represent a major bid item, making their optimization of paramount importance to developing successful bids (Jayawardane and Harris 1990). Acquiring and analysing spatial data has been perceived as a time-consuming process, which is susceptible to certain biases (Fan et al 2001). Several methods have been proposed for accurate estimation of cut quantities (e.g.…”