“Ethical management practice” as a csr tool to ensure the corporate sustainability of construction industry: a conceptual review

Abstract

Construction industry is one of the main contributors to the national economy in most countries with the industry metabolism of businesses including constructors, clients, material producers, professional service suppliers and construction enterprises, amongst others. In a largely diversified industry like construction, inter-organizational relationships grounded through ethical practice and behavior is of utmost importance to establish sustainable relationships. Nevertheless, globally, the construction industry has been reported as an industry with poor ethical performance due to corrupt practices, health and safety catastrophes and triggering damage to the environment. Thus, if the construction industry is not guided by a proper ethical framework, the damage it could do to the economy, society and ecosystem is unrecoverable. This study attempts to identify the nature of ethical management practices in construction industry and its stakeholders, through extant literature. Also it reveals the prevailing ethical issues of the industry related to its stakeholders. Further, this study identifies the costs of these unethical management practices along with the emerging need and paybacks of properly developed ethical framework to ensure the sustainability of the industry. Further research will aim to develop an ethical management framework for Sri Lankan construction industry in the light of this review. Mix methodology will be utilized, to achieve this objective. Critical unethical management practices of Sri Lankan construction industry stakeholders will be identified thorough a questionnaire based on Relative Importance Index. Recommendations to mitigate the identified critical unethical management practices will be formed through an interview survey with industry experts using content analysis method. Based on those inputs, an ethical management framework for Sri Lankan construction industry will be developed.