Measuring Corruption in Public Construction Projects in China

Ming Shan, Ping Chuen Chan, Yun Le, Bo Xia, Yi Hu

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

77 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Corruption has been identified as the greatest obstacle to economic and social development. Public construction projects, in particular, face high corruption risk as public construction sector has been consecutively deemed as the most corrupt one. Despite considerable efforts have been undertaken to measure corruption at a nation level, few researchers focus on the measurement of corruption in construction projects. This paper develops a fuzzy measurement model for the potential corruption in public construction projects in China. Through semistructured interviews with 14 experts, and then a questionnaire survey with 188 respondents, 24 measurement items of corruption were identified and further categorized into five constructs. The fuzzy set theory was then adopted to quantify each measurement item, construct, and the overall corruption level. This model can facilitate in evaluating, revealing, and monitoring corruption in public construction projects. Although this paper focuses on measuring corruption in public construction projects in China, similar research methods can be applied in other countries around the world and thus contribute to the global body of knowledge of corruption.
Original languageEnglish
Article number05015001
JournalJournal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume141
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2015

Keywords

  • China
  • Corruption
  • Fuzzy set theory
  • Measurement
  • Public construction projects

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Civil and Structural Engineering
  • Industrial relations
  • Strategy and Management

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Measuring Corruption in Public Construction Projects in China'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this