A STUDY ON ETHICS PRACTICES OF CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN
WILAYAH PERSEKUTUAN
AIRINAH NAZLI BINTI AZIZ
Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements
for the award of bachelor degree of project management
Faculty of Industrial Management
UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA PAHANG
JANUARY 2016
ii
SUPERVISOR’S DECLARATION
I hereby declare that I have checked this thesis and in my opinion, this thesis is adequate
in terms of scope and quality for the award of the Degree of Bachelor of Project
Management with Honours.
Signature :
Name of Supervisor : MISS SAFIYNAZ BINTI OMAR
Position : LECTURER
Date : JANUARY 2016
iii
STUDENT’S DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the work in this project is my own except for quotations and
summaries which have been duly acknowledged. The project has not been accepted for
any degree and is not concurrently submitted for award of other degree.
Signature :
Name : AIRINAH NAZLI BINTI AZIZ
ID Number : PB12020
Date : JANUARY 2016
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Table of Contents
Page
SUPERVISOR’S DECLARATION ii
STUDENT’S DECLARATION iii
DEDICATION iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v
ABSTRACT vi
ABSTRAK vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS viii
LIST OF TABLES xiv
LIST OF FIGURES xv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xvi
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.2 BACKGROUND OF PURPOSED STUDY 3
1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT 5
1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 9
1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 9
1.6 SCOPE OF RESEARCH 9
1.7 SIGNIFICANT OF THE STUDY 10
1.8 DEFINITION OF TERM 10
1.8.1 Ethics Practices 10
1.8.2 Unethical Practices 10
1.8.3 Forms of Unethical Practices 11
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1.8.3.1 Bribery 11
1.8.3.2 Corruption 11
1.8.3.3 Fraud 11
1.8.3.4 Deception 11
1.8.4 Types of Ethical Practices 11
1.8.4.1 Justice Practices 11
1.8.4.2 Integrity Practices 12
1.8.4.3 Confidentiality and Privacy Practices 12
1.8.4.4 Self-Control Practices 12
1.8.5 Ethical Approaches 12
1.8.5.1 Utilitarian Approach 12
1.8.5.2 Rights Approach 12
1.8.5.3 Fairness or Justice Approach 13
1.8.5.4 Common-Good Approach 13
1.8.5.5 Virtue Approach 13
1.8.6 Ethical Congruence 14
1.8.7 Ethical Dilemmas 14
1.9 EXPECTED RESULT 14
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 15
2.1 INTRODUCTION 15
2.2 CONCEPT OF ETHICS 16
2.2.1 Definition of Ethics 16
2.2.2 Concept of Ethics 17
2.3 CAUSES OF ETHICAL ISSUES 19
2.3.1 Economic Downturn 19
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2.3.2 National objectives 20
2.3.3 Leadership 21
2.3.4 Non-transparent Selection Process 21
2.3.5 Ineffective Evaluation of the Process 22
2.4 IMPACTS OF ETHICAL ISSUES 23
2.4.1 Quality of Project Management 23
2.4.2 Trustworthiness 24
2.4.3 Damage of Reputation 24
2.5 METHODS TO ENCOUNTER ETHICAL ISSUES 25
2.5.1 Code of Conduct 25
2.5.2 Early Education 26
2.5.3 Ethics Training 27
2.6 APPROACHES TO COMBAT ETHICAL ISSUES 27
2.6.1 Utilitarian Approach 28
2.6.2 Rights Approach 29
2.6.3 Fairness or Justice Approach 30
2.6.4 Common-Good Approach 31
2.6.5 Virtue Approach 32
2.7 ETHICAL ISSUES 33
2.8 CONCLUSION 39
CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 40
3.1 INTRODUCTION 41
3.2 RESEARCH PROCESS 42
3.3 POPULATION AND SAMPLING 43
3.4 SAMPLING FRAME 44
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3.5 SAMPLING METHOD 45
3.6 QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN 46
3.7 DATA COLLECTION 47
3.8 DATA ANALYSIS 48
3.8.1 Statistical Technique 48
3.8.2 Likert Scale 48
3.8.3 Mean Score 49
3.8.4 Percentages 50
3.9 CONCLUSION 50
CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS 51
4.1 INTRODUCTION 51
4.2 RESPONSE RATE 52
4.3 DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS 52
4.3.1 Respondents‟ Age 53
4.3.2 Respondents‟ Gender 54
4.3.3 Respondents‟ Race 55
4.3.4 Respondents‟ Highest Level of Qualification 56
4.3.5 Respondents‟ Experience in Work 57
4.4 DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS 58
4.4.1 Causes of Ethical Issues 58
4.4.1.1 Economic Downturn 58
4.4.1.2 National Objectives 59
4.4.1.3 Leadership 60
4.4.1.4 Non-transparent Selection Process 61
4.4.1.5 Ineffective Evaluation of the Process 62
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4.4.2 Effective Methods to Encounter Ethical Issues 63
4.4.2.1 Code of Conduct 63
4.4.2.2 Early Education 64
4.4.2.3 Ethics Training 65
4.5 SUMMARY OF MEAN ANALYSIS 66
4.5.1 Summarization Causes of Ethical Issues 66
4.5.2 Summarization Effective Methods to Encounter
Ethical Issue 67
CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 68
5.1 INTRODUCTION 68
5.2 CESSATION OF RESEARCH 68
5.2.1 Research Objective 1 69
5.2.1.1 Economic Downturn 69
5.2.1.2 National Objectives 69
5.2.1.3 Leadership 70
5.2.1.4 Non-transparent Selection Process 70
5.2.1.5 Ineffective Evaluation of the Process 70
5.2.2 Research Objective 2 70
5.2.2.1 Code of Conduct 71
5.2.2.2 Early Education 71
5.2.2.3 Ethics Training 71
5.3 LIMITATIONS OF RESEARCH 72
5.3.1 From Research 72
5.3.2 From Researcher 73
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5.4 RECOMMENDATION 74
5.4.1 Industry 74
5.4.1.1 Enforcement Code of Conduct by
Government 74
5.4.1.2 Campaign of Ethics Practices 74
5.4.1.3 Implementation of Ethics Education 74
5.4.2 Researcher 75
5.4.2.1 Enhance reading skill 75
5.4.2.2 Adapt with new technology 75
REFERENCES 76
APPENDICES 82
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LIST OF TABLES
Table No. Title Page
3.1 Mean Score Range 49
3.2 Mean Score of Economic Downturn 58
4.3 Mean Score of National Objectives 59
4.4 Mean Score of Leadership 60
4.5 Mean Score of Non-Transparent Selection Process 61
4.6 Mean Score of Ineffective Evaluation of the Process 62
4.7 Mean Score of Code of Conduct 63
4.8 Mean Score of Early Education 64
4.9 Mean Score of Ethics Training 65
4.10 Causes of Ethical Issues 66
4.11 Effective Methods to Encounter Ethical Issues 67
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure No. Title Page
3.1 Research Framework 40
3.2 Research Flow Chart 42
3.3 Krejcie & Morgan Table (1970) 44
3.4 Rating Scale of Likert 49
4.1 Respondents‟ Age 53
4.2 Respondents‟ Gender 54
4.3 Respondents‟ Race 55
4.4 Respondents‟ Highest Level of Qualification 56
4.5 Respondents‟ Experience in Work 57
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ACA Anti-Corruption Agency
CEO Chief Executive Officer
CIDB Construction Industry Development Board
CIMP Construction Industry Master Plan
CIPAA Construction Industry Payment and Adjudication Act
CPD Continuing Professional Development
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GST Goods & Services Tax
IIM Integrity Institute of Malaysia
MACC Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission
MoC Memorandum of Cooperation
MRR2 Middle Road Ring Two
MRT Mass Rapid Transit
PAA Payment and Adjudication Act
PEMANDU Performance Management and Delivery Unit
PPE Personal Protection Equipment
POCA Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Science