title: Investigating the Underlying Factors of Corruption in the Public Construction Sector: Evidence from China.
abstract: Over recent years, the issue of corruption in the public construction sector has attracted increasing attention from both practitioners and researchers worldwide. However, limited efforts are available for investigating the underlying factors of corruption in this sector. Thus, this study attempted to bridge this knowledge gap by exploring the underlying factors of corruption in the public construction sector of China. To achieve this goal, a total of 14 structured interviews were first carried out, and a questionnaire survey was then administered to 188 professionals in China. Two iterations of multivariate analysis approaches, namely, stepwise multiple regression analysis and partial least squares structural equation modeling were successively utilized to analyze the collected data. In addition, a case study was also conducted to triangulate the findings obtained from the statistical analysis. The results generated from these three research methods achieve the same conclusion: the most influential underlying factor leading to corruption was immorality, followed by opacity, unfairness, procedural violation, and contractual violation. This study has contributed to the body of knowledge by exploring the properties of corruption in the public construction sector. The findings from this study are also valuable to the construction authorities as they can assist in developing more effective anti-corruption strategies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Building, National University of Singapore, 4 Architecture Drive, Singapore, 117566, Singapore. bdgsm@nus.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shan
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Complex Engineering and Management, School of Economics and Management, Tongji University, Tongji Building A, 1500 Siping Road, Shanghai, 200092, China.
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Le
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Auckland, Room 1108, Level 11, Bldg 401, 20 Symonds Street, Auckland, 1010, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Kenneth T W
authors.initials: KTW
authors.lastname: Yiu
authors.affiliation: Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Albert P C
authors.initials: APC
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Complex Engineering and Management, School of Economics and Management, Tongji University, Tongji Building A, 1500 Siping Road, Shanghai, 200092, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D060389:Construction Industry / Q000941:ethics*; D032982:Contracts; D003415:Crime; D005607:Fraud; D006801:Humans; D009014:Morals; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D017150:Public Sector / Q000941:ethics*; D012935:Social Justice; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Case study; Public construction sector; Questionnaire survey; Underlying factor of corruption