Title:
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Case studies of Malaysian contractors" bidding process :
ethical principles and practices
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The issue of unethical behaviour in construction public contracting is not a new
phenomenon and many initiatives have been put in place to curb such behaviour.
However, ethical behaviour has shown no improvement over the years. Previous studies
in the construction industry have focused on the nature of the unethical behaviour that
takes place rather than exploring the means and strategies to tackle the problem. This
necessitates research to identify the influencing factors of unethical behaviour in
bidding in order to improve the business ' standards/processes in construction
contracting. This involves investigating the ethical standards of contractors in preparing
bids and the relationship with organisational policies that constitute formal ethical
measures. The research was conducted in the Malaysian context, undertaken from a
qualitative research design perspective. Data were collected from three case studies
through observation, interviews and documentary evidence. The analysis was carried
out in three stages: (1) coding, (2) context, mechanisms and outcome and 3. cross-case
analysis. Some pre-determined concepts were used but the analysis remained open to
emergent findings. This provided an in-depth understanding of how ethical standards
come about and how these influence the bid preparation. The findings suggest a
relationship between organisational policies and bidding team members' job
performance. However, this relationship is more complex in regards to the ethical
conduct of the bidding teams. In this regards, middle managers were found to have
significant influence on the behaviour of team members and it is inferred that top
management seek to control approaches used in the bidding process. Therefore,
formalised procedures, such as anti-corruption pledges and standard operating
procedures, have no impact on the ethical conduct of the bidding team members, as they
do not provide any insight into the actual tasks. Similarly, although the clients' rules
have an influence on ethical behaviour in bidding, such rules, however, are project-specific
and do not always fit with routine activities. The findings call for more in-depth
studies to improve our understanding about the ethical standards of construction
organisations in different contexts. This will help regulators and practitioners become
acquainted with areas for improvement
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