Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 50 (2012) 350 – 360
AcE-Bs 2012 Bangkok
ASEAN Conference on Environment-Behaviour Studies,
Bangkok, Thailand, 16-18 July 2012
Transparency Initiatives (TI) in Construction: The Social
Psychology of Human Behaviours
Rumaizah Mohd Nordin*, Roshana Takim & Abdul Hadi Nawawi
Centre of Postgraduate Studies, Faculty of Architecture, Planning and Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Shah
Alam,40450 Malaysia
Abstract
Transparency initiatives (TI) are essential elements to corruption and corrupt behavior. Corruption is a fiduciary
crime that is believed to penetrate slowly into the construction sectors. Diverse characteristics of human behavior
affect the attitude towards corrupt activities. The objectives are: (1) to investigate sources of corruption and (2) to
identify strategies to reduce corruption in construction. A workshop was conducted to derive to the solutions.
Weaknesses in the system and economic pressure are two technical sources of corruption, while, human behaviour to
corrupt is affected by culture, society and personality. The person attitudes and self-value are two strategies in
curbing corruption.
©©2012
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and peer-review
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of the Centre
EnvironmentBehaviour
2012Published
Published
Elsevier
Selection
and peer-review
responsibility
of thefor
Centre
for EnvironmentStudies
(cE-Bs),
Faculty
of Architecture,
Planning &Planning
Surveying,
Universiti Universiti
TeknologiTeknologi
MARA, Malaysia
Behaviour
Studies
(cE-Bs),
Faculty of Architecture,
& Surveying,
MARA, Malaysia
Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Keywords:Transparency Initiatives; behaviour; culture; construction; corruption
1. Introduction
Transparency is one of the practical measures taken to curtail corruption (Park and Blekinsopp, 2011).
In construction industry, transparency initiatives are essential elements of the Government primary
approaches to promote openness and reduce corruption and corrupt behaviour (Bertot et al, 2010). It is
about the sharing of information of government decisions and activities, good record management and
access to information which are of interest to all segments of society (Armstrong, 2005). According to
Kolstad and Wiig (2008) there is a correlation between a lack of transparency and high levels of
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: 019-2792110; fax: 03-55211564.
E-mail address: jeyarz@yahoo.com
1877-0428 © 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Centre for Environment- Behaviour Studies (cE-Bs),
Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.08.040
Rumaizah Mohd Nordin et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 50 (2012) 350 – 360
corruption. A higher level of transparency in decision making increases the probability that corruption or
wrongdoing is detected (Bac, 2001).
The construction industry plays an important role in any country’s economic development. It
establishes the infrastructure required for socioeconomic development, while being a major contributor to
the overall economic growth. This is vital for the fact that the economic growth of any nation can be
measured by the development of physical infrastructures (Takim and Akintoye, 2002; Abdullah et. al.
2004). Construction sector is one of the most lucrative sectors amounting to a $1.7 trillion industry
worldwide and contributing to between 5 and 7 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in most
countries (Kenny 2007; 2009; Murray and Meghji, 2009). As for Malaysia, for the years between 2005
and 2010, construction sector has contributed at an average of 3.18 per cent of the National GDP (MOF,
2011).
Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. It is damaging to a country because
decisions are taken not for the public benefit but to serve private interests (Shah and Schacter, 2004;
Soreide, 2005). It is a phenomenon that is very difficult to investigate because it involves secrecy and
deceit, with the possibility of informants being punished when exposed (Kim and Kim and Lee, 2009).
Cited in Park and Blenkinsopp (2011), Klitgaard (1988), stated that corruption occurs as a form of
behaviour violating the official ethics of public services. In addition to that, corruption is a fiduciary
crime that is believed to slowly penetrate the construction sectors in countries around the world (Rahim,
2010). The construction industry also has a worldwide position for incidences of corruption, asset
misappropriation, and bribery (Sohail and Cavill, 2008).
Construction projects can involve a multitude of players that leads to various psychological human
behaviour which could affects the attitude towards corrupt activities. Individuals come to consider that
corruption to be a normal or even acceptable state of affairs, which has been in place since time
immemorial. When norms such as ‘return a favour when asked’ or ‘minimize conflict with fellow
members of your community’ exist in a pervasively corrupt society, they not only encourage further
corruption but also promote social ostracism of those who attempt to fight it (Varese, 2000). An
underlying assumption is that the values individual have directly affect their behaviour due to value
contain a judgemental elements that reflects a persons’ sense of right and wrong (Harrison and
Huntington, 2000; Schermerhorn and Hunt and Osborn, 2008; Robbins and Judge, 2011).
Hence, the objectives of this paper are two-folds: (1) to investigate sources of corruption in
construction in relation to social-psychological behaviour and (2) to identify strategies to reduce
corruption based on social-psychological behaviour.
2. Problem statement
Transparency is generally defined as the open flow of information and is starting to subsume
accountability in public discourse about good governance and it is one of the practical measures taken to
curtail corruption (Park and Blekinsopp, 2011). Transparency means that decisions are taken and the
enforcement done is in the manner that follows rules and regulations. It also means that information is
freely available and directly accessible to those who will be affected by such decisions and their
enforcement. Other than that, enough information is provided and that it is provided in easily
understandable forms and media (Lim, 2010).
Corruption is a complex set of personal enrichment processes involving many types of crime that
implies some form of illicit human behaviour and many other variables, which are difficult to recognise
or measure (Neelankavil, 2001; Otusanya, 2011). It is a deep-rooted social and economic problem in
developing economies everywhere in the world because the illegality of bribes that distorts the efficient
allocation of resources, since the corrupt agent must undertake presumably costly maneuvers to avoid
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detection (Goorha, 2000). Corruption also has been condemned to push up cost and excluding poorer
people from social activities (Otusanya, 2011; Shah and Schacter, 2004). Corruption is blamed to
represent a threat to construction and engineering companies, as well as those institutions companies that
finance, guarantee or insured construction projects. Corruption in construction could result in wasted
tender expenses, tendering uncertainty, increased project costs, economic damage, blackmail, criminal
prosecutions, fines, blacklisting, and reputational risk (Stansbury, 2005).
Fighting corruption is one out of the six National Key Results Area (NKRA) of Malaysia. The aim is
to arrest Malaysia’s Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) that drops from
23rd place in 1995 to 60th place in 2011 (TI, 2011). According to Sohail and Cavill (2008) strategies to
combat corruption in construction are awareness raising, strengthened professional institutions,
prevention of corruption as well as enforcement and monitoring measures. However, Krishnan (2009)
indicates that corruption in construction projects could only be eliminated if all participants in project
cooperated in the development and implementation of effective anticorruption action which addressed
both the supply (bribe giver) and demand (bribe taker).
The construction process requires the contribution of many different stakeholders (Aziz and Derus,
2010). These stakeholders are including client groups, the federal and state councils, private
organisations, individuals, developers, contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, manufacturers and
professionals, architects, quantity surveyors, financiers, insurers, and engineers incorporating civil,
structural, mechanical and electrical. It is also involved various processes, different phases of work, and a
great deal of inputs from both the public and private sectors. The main problem surfaced is the
fragmentation of the industry (Abdul-Rahman, Chen and Xiang, 2010; Kenny, 2009; Kenny, 2007; Takim
and Akintoye, 2002). The explanation for the causes and occurrences of corrupt activity are usually found
in the interaction of individual and social structures (Otusanya, 2011). The fragmentation and various
interactions of individuals lead to various psychological human behaviour which could affects the attitude
towards corrupt activities.
Psychological human behaviour consists of actions, feelings, beliefs, memories and inferences of an
individual that are affected by culture, society and personality. Social psychology however, is defined as
the scientific field that seeks to understand the nature and causes of individual behaviour, feelings and
thought in social situations (Baron and Branscombe, 2012). It investigates the ways in which our
thoughts, feelings and actions are influenced by the social environment. Moreover, Robbins and Judge
(2011) define social psychology as an area of psychology that blends concepts from psychology and
sociology that focuses on the influence of people on one another. To them, psychology is the science that
seeks to measure, explain and sometimes change the behaviour of humans while sociology is the study of
people in relation to their social environment or culture. As for Gire (1999), behavioural production
involves the process of converting the mental representations into appropriate actions that form as one of
the components of attitude besides beliefs and feelings. Since construction project stakeholders are
humans with diverse characteristics of social psychological behaviours stimulating towards corrupt
activities, the understanding of sources of corruption in construction due to social psychological behavior
and identification of strategies to reduce corruption based on social psychological behaviour is inevitable.
3. Methodology
A qualitative approach was taken to conduct this study through a brainstorming workshop as the
primary means of data collection. A well planned workshop has been conducted on the 27th March 2012
at the OIA Multipurpose hall, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia in order to extract
initial view and ideas from the experts and experienced practitioner in the Malaysian construction
industry. The objectives of the workshop are to gather initial data on sources of corruption in construction
Rumaizah Mohd Nordin et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 50 (2012) 350 – 360
and strategies to combat corruption in construction with regards to psychology of human behaviour from
experts in the construction organisations.
The discussion of the workshop was divided into two groups with different categories, namely: Group
1 deals with human behaviours and Group 2 deals with technical elements. Prior to discussion on TI
issues in Malaysia, two keynotes speech were engaged to provide an overview of the issues of integrity
and corruption prevention, namely; (1) ‘Corruption Prevention in Construction Sector’ by Deputy Chief
Commissioner (Prevention), Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Malaysia, and (2)
‘Integrity in Construction’ by Ketua Penolong Pengarah Kanan, Bahagian Naziran dan Integriti, Public
Work Department (JKR) Malaysia.
A total of 48% of response rate were obtained from various government agencies (i.e Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission (MACC), Public Work Department (JKR), Construction Industry Development
Board (CIDB), Construction Research Institute of Malaysia (CREAM), The Performance Management &
Delivery Unit (PEMANDU), Integrity Institute of Malaysia (IIM), contractors, academia and postgraduate students for the workshop. The profile of the respondents is illustrated in Table 1. Based on the
designation and professional background of the participants, it is reasonable to infer that the majority of
the participants have sound knowledge on the issues of integrity and corruption in construction.
Table 1. Profile of respondents
Sample
Type of Organisation
Expected participants
Participants attended
MACC, Malaysia
2
2
JKR, Malaysia
2
2
CIDB, Malaysia
2
1
CREAM
2
2
PEMANDU
1
1
Integrity Institute of Malaysia
2
2
Contractors
42
6
Academia
40
19
Students
57
37
Total
150
72
Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM):
The outcomes of the workshop discussion were processed by means content analysis techniques.
Content analysis can be categorised into conceptual analysis and relational analysis. In this study, a
conceptual analysis technique was adopted in which a concept is chosen as thematic analysis (Busch et al,
2005). Thematic analysis is a process for encoding qualitative information and combine analysis of the
frequency of codes with analysis of their meaning in context (Boyatzis, 1998; Marks and Yardley, 2004).
The data were analysed by means of transcription of information, identification of a set of theme and
categories of themes, level of generalisation of the observed themes, organising the coding process and
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finally analyse the results (Ismail and Takim and Nawawi, 2010; Yardley et al, 2006). NVivo Version 8
was used to analyse the data.
4. Findings and discussion
Table 2, 3 and 4 presents the findings of the workshop of the three issues (i.e., structure of integrity,
transparency and corruption; sources of corruption; and strategies to eradicate corruption) in the
construction industry of Malaysia. The outcomes are discussed in turn.
4.1 Structure of integrity, transparency and corruption in Malaysian construction industry
Integrity is defined as a quality of excellence that manifested in a holistic and integral manner in
individual and organisations. It is based on ethics and noble values and their concrete manifestation in
daily lives (IIM, 2010). Other than that, Armstrong (2005) emphasized that integrity provides the basis
for transparency and accountability. He defines integrity as “honesty and trustworthiness”. Both honesty
and trustworthiness are essential in the discharge of official duties, serving as antithesis to corruption. In
the other hand, according to Abdul-Karim (2011), transparency in much related to trust since whenever a
project is executed transparently, it will reflect the honesty in completing the task. This will then be a
yardstick of confidents by clients and other stakeholders of the project. This confidence will later be
translated into smooth-running of the projects and finally ensuring the successfulness of the project. There
is a correlation between a lack of transparency and high levels of corruption since one of the main
elements of transparency is to eliminate the opportunities of corrupt acts (Kolstad and Wiig, 2008; AbdulKarim, 2011).
Table 2 shows the issue of integrity, transparency and corruption based on behavioural issues and
echnical issues. In the human behavioural group, the respondents defined integrity as inner self elements
of an individual which cannot be seen through naked eye but can only be observed from one's deeds or
responds to certain things. Other than that, integrity also perceived as behaviour based on good values
(i.e., Ethics, honest, truth, fair, transparent, wise and responsible). Cited in Toor and Ofori (2009), ethical
individuals engage in acts and behaviours that benefit others and at the same time, they refrain from
behaviours that can cause any harm to others. Likewise, transparency was viewed as problem of
humanities when individuals need to be honest in order to be transparent. Since behaviours form part of
social psychology that affected by culture, Toor and Ofori (2008) emphasised that there is a need to
promote a positive culture in the construction industry and to develop individuals who possess positive
values and practice high level of moral and ethical standards.
As for technical group, integrity was seen as the ability to carry out work efficiently and perfectly
through discipline and high responsibility, while transparency were viewed as the ability to gather various
information which is relevant to execute the project. In order to be transparent, check and balance in the
implementation process and procedure ought to be incorporated across project phases from strategy
formulation phase to completion phase.
As shown in Table 2, both of the groups indicated that higher transparency can reduce the
opportunities of corrupt acts. In order to be transparent, individual need to instil themselves with ethics
and good values such as honesty. Those good values are the elements of integrity that comprises from
social psychological behaviour of an individual. Hence, in order to eliminate corruption in construction,
stakeholders need to possess high integrity that can ensure higher transparency within the construction
sector and in line with the idea of Taylor and Mawenya (NA).
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Table 2. Integrity, transparency and corruption in Malaysian construction industry
Integrity
Group 1
Group 2
(Behavioural)
(Technical)
Inner self elements of an individual - cannot be
seen but can only be observed from one's deeds or
responds to certain things.
Ability to carry out work perfectly, responsibly and
with disciplines.
Behaviour based on good values (i.e., Ethics,
honest, truth, fair, transparent, wise and
responsible)
Transparency
Problem of humanities – individual need to be
honest in order to be transparent.
Ethics
Efficient
Ability to oversee various information (i.e., cost,
materials, technology) in construction industry
Check and balance of the projects from early stage
to completion.
Transparency and
corruption
Higher transparency can reduce opportunities for corrupt acts.
4.1. Sources of corruption
There are many sources contributing to corruption in construction. Public-choice theory suggests that
individual is portrayed as rationally calculating person who decides to become corrupt when the expected
advantages of corrupt activity outweigh its expected advantages (i.e. possible penalty and chance of being
caught). This is also supported by the black-apple theory that suggests the cause of corruption is found in
defective human character and a predisposition towards criminal acts (Otusanya, 2011). Factors such as
securing future projects, cutting red tapes, motivating underpaid workers, under-counter services and
obtaining political power for gaining contract and services are seen as important sources contributing to
corruption in construction (Sohail and Cavill, 2008).
Table 3 presents the sources of corruption discussed based on behavioural and technical issues. For
behavioural issue, sources of corruption consist of five elements that are: mentality, culture, environment,
lifestyle, and inevitability. Mentality is defined as mental capacity or intelligence possess by an individual
(Merriam-Webster, 2012). Other definitions of intelligence include adaptability to a new environment or
to changes in the current environment, the ability to evaluate and judge, the ability to comprehend
complex ideas, the capacity for original and productive thought, the ability to learn quickly and learn
from experience and even the ability to comprehend relationships. Evolutionary psychologist claim to
have identified a number of mental adaptations that regulate human behaviour and that human behaviour
can be developed through education (Laland and Brown, 2011). For this context, mentality is referred to
lack of individual integrity that leads to negative behaviour.
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Table 3. Sources of corruption in Malaysian construction industry
Sources of corruption
Group 1 (Behaviour)
Group 2 (Technical)
Mentality –lack of individual integrity
Economic pressure
Culture
Weakness in the system
Environment
Quality of public service
Lifestyle
Competency of civil servant
Inevitability
Culture is the regarded as cohesive set of ideas, belief and knowledge that have been the primary
influence on human behaviour such as whether to engage in corrupt transactions or otherwise (Laland and
Brown, 2011; Getz and Volkema, 2001). Apart from that, Andrei and Matei and Rosca (2009) highlighted
that cultural factors have a strong impact on the level of corruption and on the mechanism enabling its
transmission throughout the system. It is more saddening when corruption as payments to public agents
for private benefit in the form of ‘gifts’ are not viewed as corruption (McChesney, 2010).
Apart from that, environment that tolerated corruption in a way forced individual to pay bribe. Based
on Getz and Volkimer (2001), it is impossible to do business in certain part of the world without paying
bribes. Furthermore, based on the discussion, the current lifestyle of the community which look forward
for a high standard of living contributed to corruption. Due to the influence of luxurious lifestyle, public
officials tend to use their discretionary power for their private satisfaction (Aidt, 2011). Corruption is
thought by many to be unavoidable part of doing business (Getz and Volkema, 2001). Similarly, this
situation has been highlighted in the discussion as inevitability. Cited in Seleim and Bontis (2009), such
situation tends to occur due to the opportunities of corrupt acts from the well-established norms, rules,
policies and procedures of an institution or country. It resulted from individual perception that it is
necessary to work through informal channels (i.e., individual offer or pay bribes, officials to demand or
accept bribes, and similar dishonest dealings) to achieve personal objectives. As for the technical issues,
the discussion highlighted two sources of corruption that are: economic pressure and weaknesses in the
system. Sources of corruption based on economic factor can be divided into level of openness in
economy, level of remuneration in public sector, quality of financing system, industrialized policies and
efficiency of investment (Andrei, Matei and Rosca, 2009).
Rumaizah Mohd Nordin et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 50 (2012) 350 – 360
Most of the participants expressed their opinions on economic pressure which is related to obtaining
projects for sustaining business and getting payment for completed projects. They expressed their opinion
by stating that the construction market is very competitive comprising large number of contractors.
However, projects available to date are very limited. Hence, in order to compete, they corrupt by paying
bribes or other forms of lobby tactics in order to secure for a project. This is inevitable in order to sustain
a company. Meanwhile, participants also suggested that weakness in the implementation system
contributes to corruption. Competencies of the civil servant and quality of public services can affect the
weaknesses of the whole tendering process and improvement need to be done to reduce/alleviate
corruption in construction. This is similar to Aidt (2011) that highlighted weak institution provides
loopholes for public official to exploit their power to corruption in construction.
4.2. Strategies to eradicate corruption
This section presents the result of discussion for strategies to eradicate corruption in construction.
Some insights on current strategies have been expounded by the participants. The strategies are tabulated
in Table 4 below:
Table 4. Strategies to eradicate corruption in Malaysian construction industry
Strategies to
eradicate corruption
Group 1
Group 2
(Behavioural)
(Technical)
Upholding core values of company
Legal aspect
Good monitoring system
Enforcement
Integrity of workers
Selection of competent contractors
Self-regulatory
Knowledgeable person to award projects
Promote E-bidding
Integrity Pact
Based on the discussion, Group 1 has revealed two strategies to combat corruption which include
upholding core values of company and self-regulatory. The group defined core values of an organisation
are those values that form the foundation on which we perform work and conduct ourselves includes the
vision and mission of the company. There is an important relationship between the company’s core
values, ethical climate and culture that will support the emergence of the informal and formal measures of
business ethics implementation. This will result in consistency among mission, vision, values and culture
of the company which is essential for the company’s long-term success (Duh, Belak and Milfelner, 2010).
The finding indicated that, in order to successfully uphold the core values, the company must possess a
good monitoring system and build integrity within the workers. This can be done through ensuring every
employee understands their core values that consist of loyalty, cohesiveness, professionalism and
integrity. Other than that, the top management (leaders) must possess good leadership and be able to
monitor the workers. Employees should be educated with information of values and integrity through
seminars and courses. The group also emphasised on self-regulatory that will facilitate good governance.
As for the construction industry, Code of Ethics for Contractors was formulated, created and implemented
by Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB). The prime objective is to outline best practices as
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well as noble conduct which are accepted as standard practices among contractors that are capable of
motivating and enhancing the level of professionalism, integrity and accountability (CIDB, 2005).
Group 2 has listed out six strategies to eliminate corruption, namely: legal aspect, enforcement,
selection of competent contractors, knowledgeable person to award projects, promote E-bidding, and
Integrity Pact. The participants agreed that under the provision of legal aspect, creation and maintenance
of law and regulation that are clear and understandable is vital. This is due to rules are often confusing,
the documents specifying them are not publicly available, and sometimes, the rules are changed without
properly publicized announcements that create opportunities for corruption (Nordin, Takim and Nawawi,
2011). The group was also in the opinion that there are adequate laws and regulation regarding corruption
such as MACC Act 2009 and Whistle-blower Protection Act but issues of enforcement of such acts is
questionable. Implementation and enforcement of the law strictly regardless of the status or position of
the offender in the society are as the same important (Zou, 2006; Quah, 2004). The success of the
strategies is not dependent solely on the number of anti-corruption measures but most importantly is the
full support from government to implement the measures effectively (Abdullah, 2008).
The Group also proposed one of strategies to fight corruption is to award a project based on a
competent contractor and knowledgeable person. This strategy can be related to adequacy of available
standards of procedures, laws and regulation, and code of conducts that may assist in good decision
making. In addition, individual integrity is very important for the benefit of the public instead of gaining
personal benefits. The Group also agreed that promoting E-bidding will enhance transparency that may
reduce opportunities for corruption. Another strategies highlighted by the discussion is the
implementation of Integrity Pacts by most of the Government agencies. Integrity Pact is an agreement
between the government with all bidders for public sector contract in order to ensure clean bidding and a
level playing field. However, some participants tend to query on the effectiveness of this strategy since
Integrity Pact is only implemented during the execution of the projects (i.e., after awarding the project)
and not during the strategic formulation of the project. They argued that there may be chances of
corruption during the strategic formulation phase (i.e., in the proposal stage) and procurement phase.
Therefore, they suggested that Integrity Pact may need to be considered to be implemented as early as the
proposal of a project.
5. Conclusion
In conclusion, this paper attempts to investigate Transparency Initiatives (TI) in construction with
regards to the social psychology of human behaviours. Two vital findings of two vital findings are:
sources of corruption and strategies to eradicate corruption in construction industry. The findings reveal a
number of sources that can be the reason to corrupt practices. The weaknesses in the system and
economic pressure are two sources of technical issues. On behavioural issues, human behaviour is
affected by culture, society and personality. Therefore, government need to pay more attention on
developing a healthy construction culture by promoting honest, ethical and high integrity construction
culture. This can be done through creating an environment of trust, feeling safe to report corruption, and
recognition of company that adhere to best practices.
Subsequently, the workshop derived at eight strategies to combat corruptions that have been divided
into behavioural and technical elements. It was agreed that well-organized works procedures, strict
enforcement of rules and regulations, and transparent management of a project are important elements to
discourage corruption. More importantly is to motivate individuals for improvement of social psychology
of human behaviour through upholding integrity, ethical culture, and core values. Therefore, although
there are many laws and regulation that restrict the malpractice of corruption, the person attitudes and
self-value is more imperative in curbing corruption.
Rumaizah Mohd Nordin et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 50 (2012) 350 – 360
The research presented in this paper is part of an ongoing PhD research study at the Faculty of
Architecture, Planning and Surveying, UiTM to develop a framework of transparency initiative for public
construction projects in Malaysian construction industry. The result of the study could provide an insight
into Malaysian construction project development and will hopefully offer valuable guideline, especially to
construction industry stakeholders in Malaysia that are looking forward for a more transparent
construction market.
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