Barriers to effective implementation of ethical codes in construction organizations: An empirical investigation

Abstract

This study examines the obstacles to effective implementation of ethical codes with the aim to provide knowledge about barriers to effective ethical code integration in construction organizations. Twenty two variables were identified through comprehensive literature review and a web-based questionnaire survey was used for data collection. Mean score and factor analysis were employed to prioritize and categorize the variables. This study presents three categories of barriers to codes of ethics implementation in construction organizations which include 'managerial and organizational barriers', 'planning and monitoring barriers' and 'value and interest barriers'. The major barrier to ethical codes implementation in relation to construction organizations is 'planning and monitoring barriers'. In this regard, organizations should pay attention to these barriers in order to ensure effective implementation of codes of ethics. This study provides information for decision makers in construction organizations striving to implement ethical codes, regarding what constitutes barriers to code integration in their practices.

Dimensions for improvement of construction management practice in Ethiopian construction industry

“…Variables’ loading under each factor indicates only correlation of the variables to the individual factor but not importance of the extracted factor. Hence, to identify the major factors, the relative importance of the extracted factors was determined by their factor scores’ ranking using the formula indicated below (Fan and Fox, 2009; Oladinrin and Ho, 2015; Ogbu, 2018): where F i = factor score; A ij = mean score of the j th variable of factor i and n is the number of variables associated with the factor.…”

Major Barriers and Best Solutions to the Adoption of Ethics and Compliance Program in Chinese International Construction Companies: A Sustainable Development Perspective

“…Several researchers attributed the barriers to situational factors outside the organization, such as lack of perceived incentives [25], lack of professional guidance and support, insufficient cross-border supervision, administrative distance, adversarial environment [26]. On the other hand, several studies emphasized internal barriers including the awareness of compliance, financial capacity, technical know-how, human resources, ethical culture, managerial ability and oversight [27], and psychological constraints [28].…”

“…The adoption of ECP in ICCs faces challenges at different levels. From the firm level, Oladinrin et al [28] highlighted managerial and organizational barriers, planning and monitoring barriers, and value and interest barriers. From the project level, Owusu et al [14] grouped the barriers into political, psychosocial, social, and organizational barriers.…”

“…Lack of tools to evaluate the benefits of the ECP It is difficult to quantify the financial returns or reputation returns brought by adopting ECP. [7,14,28] B14 Bureaucratic organizational setting…”

Analysing the causes of corruption in the Malaysian construction industry

“…The lack of ethical codes of practice and the absence of enforcement of the codes are seen to significantly encourage corrupt actions in the Ghanaian construction industry for instance (Ameyaw et al, 2017). According to Oladinrin and Ho (2015), ethical codes are hard to put into practice in construction because of managerial and organisational, planning and monitoring and value and interest hindrances. They further underscore that major predicaments are because of an excessive focus on profitability, underdeveloped and inadequate ethical education and a lacklustre commitment to written codes.…”