The construction industry significantly contributes to economic growth, yet it continues to face persistent ethical challenges. Despite ongoing reforms, these challenges remain, suggesting underlying issues in governance, organisational leadership and market dynamics. Accordingly, this study systematically reviews the literature to identify key ethical issues in building construction management and to clarify the systemic factors that perpetuate unethical practices across various projects and contexts.
This systematic literature review followed PRISMA 2020 guidelines and Okoli's review framework. The analysis covered 135 peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers published from 2000 to 2025. Ethical issues were coded at the study level using a binary scheme and synthesised through thematic narrative analysis. Co-occurrence analysis identified clusters of ethical issues across studies. Study quality was assessed with the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool, giving greater weight to studies of high and moderate quality.
Six core ethical domains were identified: procurement corruption and integrity failures; collusion and bid rigging; professional ethics and conflicts of interest; safety ethics and duty-of-care failures; labour exploitation and modern slavery risk; and sustainability and social responsibility ethics. These issues often co-occur, especially within procurement and subcontracting arrangements. Four categories of systemic drivers were identified: organisational, institutional and regulatory, economic and market and cultural and normative factors. Organisational and procurement-related drivers were found to exert the strongest influence.
The findings should be interpreted in light of several limitations. The review is restricted to peer-reviewed English-language publications and selected databases, potentially excluding relevant grey literature and regional studies. The analysis is based on descriptive synthesis and co-occurrence patterns, which indicate associations rather than causal relationships. These constraints may affect the generalisability of findings across different institutional contexts.
The findings offer actionable guidance for principal industry stakeholders. Regulators are advised to prioritise consistent enforcement and verification mechanisms instead of relying exclusively on transparency initiatives. Clients and procuring entities are encouraged to redesign procurement systems to integrate integrity, safety, and labour criteria alongside cost considerations. Main contractors should enhance supply chain oversight and embed ethical performance into project controls. Subcontractors and supply-chain participants should implement transparent labour and sourcing practices. Collectively, these measures facilitate more effective and coordinated ethical governance.
Ethical failures in construction disproportionately harm vulnerable stakeholders, including workers, subcontractors, and affected communities. Labour exploitation, unsafe working conditions and symbolic sustainability practices undermine social trust and contribute to long-term social and economic harm. By identifying the systemic drivers of unethical behaviour, this study supports policy and governance reforms that promote safer workplaces, fairer labour practices and more socially responsible construction outcome.
This study reconceptualises construction ethics as a systemic issue of governance and market design, rather than as a series of isolated compliance failures. As one of the first reviews to examine the co-occurrence of multiple ethical risks through a theory-informed, systems-based approach, it integrates institutional, agency, stakeholder and moral disengagement perspectives. This integration offers a comprehensive framework to guide coordinated ethical reform in construction management. The study recommends enhancing enforcement, reforming procurement, improving supply chain oversight, ensuring compliance with labour and safety standards and integrating ethical considerations with incentives to address interconnected construction risks. Future research should compare reform approaches and examine how incentives, supply chains and regulatory frameworks influence ethical outcomes to inform targeted strategies.
