Ubesingha, Buddhinie (2025) Professionalism and ethics in post-disaster reconstruction projects. PhD thesis, London South Bank University, UK.
Abstract
Disasters are increasing in frequency and severity, causing major impacts on cities, human habitats, lives, and livelihoods. Therefore, there is an increased demand for construction professionals to undertake rebuilding after disasters to reconstruct resilient human habitats, ensuring the well-being of people. However, the ethical decision-making in post-disaster reconstruction (PDR) is challenged due to the dynamic nature of post-disaster chaos, time-compression, resource scarcity, political influence, and legal complexities. Furthermore, the influx of funds and donations in PDR contexts can foster unethical practices, particularly when standard procedures are bypassed in favour of expediency. While the construction sector is often criticised for unprofessional and unethical practices, these challenges are even greater in PDR. However, existing PDR literature has largely focused on technical, administrative, and ‘build back better’ aspects, leaving the Professionalism & Ethics (P&E) of PDR professionals in complex post-disaster contexts underexplored. Thus, this research aims to identify challenges to the P&E of PDR professionals and explore means to enhance their professional and ethical conduct. Adopting a multi-staged convergent mixed-method research strategy, a survey and five case studies were conducted. Data collected from 239 survey responses were analysed using factor analysis. Case studies were conducted in Italy, Mozambique, Indonesia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Data collected by interviewing professionals in PDR were analysed thematically. Findings disclosed six categories of challenges to the P&E of PDR professionals: business-cultural, disaster-contextual, competence-based, professional institution-related, administrative, and social challenges. Further, three means of enhancing the P&E of professionals in PDR were identified: knowledge and skills, wider climate, and individual morality. Finally, an approach to enhance the P&E of professionals in post-disaster reconstruction was suggested. This research offers an interdisciplinary insight into the built environment body of literature by shedding light on its interdependence with ethical relativism. Further, it has theoretical implications in the domains of organisation theory, public administration theory, professionalism, and morality. In addition, it provides real-world implications for policymaking and practice by suggesting means to reconstruct after disasters in a sustainable and socially responsible manner to improve the quality of life of people.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Agyekum-Mensah, George; Ofori, George and Frings, Daniel |
| Index terms: | strategy, unethical practices, factor analysis, post-disaster reconstruction project, construction professional, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, quality of life, ethics, morality, Nepal, ethical conduct, construction sector, decision-making, case study, survey, Italy, well-being, Mozambique, compression, post-disaster reconstruction, rebuilding, professionalism, competence, built environment, complexity, interdependence |
| Subjects: | infrastructure and transport systems, professional development, data collection methods, personnel development, management, post-disaster and reconstruction, health safety and environment, material properties and characteristics, mental health and wellbeing, systems engineering, statistical analysis, ethical practice, Geography, public and environmental health, organizational analysis, decision analysis, building construction, industry analysis |
| Topics: | Health and Safety, Construction Materials, Research Practice, Risk Management, Engineering Principles, Human Resources, Urban Studies, Geographical Context, Information Management, Organizational Design, Business Strategy |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here