Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, 108 Architectural Engineering Bd., 932 Lushan S Rd, Yuelu Qu, Changsha Shi, Hunan Sheng, China.
Sci Eng Ethics. 2020 Feb;26(1):325-349. doi: 10.1007/s11948-019-00083-6. Epub 2019 Mar 13.
Construction process stages are argued to be vulnerable to the prevalence of corrupt practices. However, the validity of this argument has not been empirically explored in the extant literature of construction management. Therefore, this study examines the stages of the construction process susceptibility to corruption and its most prominent forms of corrupt activities (within the respective stages). A total of forty-four project-related professionals were involved in an expert survey to assess such susceptibilities and the criticality of the identified corrupt activities at each stage. A comparative study of expert views from developing regions against experts from developed regions is conducted. Expert scoring results revealed that three stages are most susceptible, namely: project execution, pre-qualification and tender stages. Such results were confirmed by application of the Mann-Whitney U test statistics tool, showing wide disparities in seven out of eleven identical stages. This study is intended to incite polemic discussions and greater empirical, evidence-based research from scholars in both developed and developing countries. This study adds to the extant literature corruption-related works on the construction process through deeper understanding of the dynamic nature of corrupt practices involved in the stages of the construction process in developing countries. Practically, it intends to offer a veritable plethora of information on the critical stages of the construction process for industry practitioners, policymakers and anti-corruption bodies to careen their attention towards the fight against corruption.
施工过程阶段被认为容易受到腐败行为的影响。然而，这一论点在建筑管理的现有文献中尚未得到实证研究。因此，本研究考察了施工过程阶段对腐败的敏感性及其在各个阶段最突出的腐败活动形式（within the respective stages）。共有 44 名与项目相关的专业人员参与了一项专家调查，以评估这些敏感性以及在每个阶段确定的腐败活动的关键性。对来自发展中地区和发达地区的专家进行了专家意见的比较研究。专家评分结果表明，有三个阶段最容易受到影响，即：项目执行、资格预审和投标阶段。这种结果通过应用 Mann-Whitney U 检验统计工具得到了证实，在十一个相同阶段中有七个阶段存在明显的差异。本研究旨在引发争议性讨论，并促使来自发达国家和发展中国家的学者进行更多基于经验和证据的研究。通过更深入地了解发展中国家施工过程阶段涉及的腐败行为的动态性质，本研究增加了与施工过程腐败相关的现有文献工作。实际上，它旨在为行业从业者、政策制定者和反腐败机构提供大量关于施工过程关键阶段的信息，以便他们关注反腐败工作。
