Curbing unethical practices associated with preferential allocation of construction contracts in Ghana: survey professionals’ perception of who should lead the way

The construction industry in Ghana is bursting with speculations and pieces of information that suggest that certain contracts are awarded on basis other than merits of a proposed bid and the competitiveness of cost. Undoubtedly, this unethical practice is amongst the most prominent challenges facing the construction industry in Ghana and many other developing countries. Literature is not lacking on measures to tackle this unethical practice, but what remains unclear is which professional stakeholder group is best positioned to lead efforts to change the situation. This paper reports a survey conducted into the extent to which key stakeholder groups of the Ghanaian built environment surveying profession (i.e. professionals; their organisations; and professional body) can influence improvement in unethical practices associated with preferential allocation of construction contracts in Ghana. On the four unethical practices considered, the results showed survey professionals perceived themselves to have greater influence in helping to curb the practice of collusion. On bribery, they perceived similar levels of influence as their organisations. The professional, his or her organisation and professional body were perceived to have similar influence in helping to curb discrimination and nepotisms whiles political influence was perceived to be best tackled by the professional’s organisation and the professional body. Results from this study provides information to begin a bigger conversation on how to curb unethical practices associated with the problem of preferential allocation of construction contracts in Ghana’s construction industry. Obviously, this conversation cannot be had without taking into consideration the roles various stakeholder groups can and should be playing in efforts to deal with the problem.