Ubesingha, B; Ofori, G; Agyekum-Mensah, G and Frings, D (2024) Professionalism and ethics: Challenges in post-disaster reconstruction. In: Thomson, C (ed.) Proceedings of 40th Annual ARCOM Conference, 2-4 September 2024, London South Bank University, UK.
Abstract
There is an increased demand for construction professionals to undertake rebuilding after disasters to reconstruct resilient cities ensuring the well-being of people. However, the post-disaster context is usually chaotic, time-compressed, resource-deprived, politically influenced, and legally challenged. Therefore, despite the construction industry being criticised for lack of professionalism and for the common occurrence of unethical conduct in its ordinary context, being professional and ethical in the post-disaster reconstruction (PDR) context is a greater challenge. However, professionalism and ethics in the context of PDR have not been explored. Therefore, this study aims to identify challenges relating to professionalism and ethics in PDR through a systematic literature review. After screening 507 articles obtained from Scopus databases, 39 peer-reviewed journal articles and reports published between 2008 and 2023 were reviewed. The thematic analysis revealed six intra-industry challenges and five extra-industry challenges that affect professionalism and ethics in PDR. This paper contributes to the existing literature on Professionalism and Ethics, particularly in PDR and construction, and provides a critical foundation for future research suggesting that a multi-disciplinary perspective would be most appropriate.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | challenges; disaster; ethics; professionalism; resilience |
| Index terms: | construction professional, unethical conduct, screening, rebuilding, ethics, database, resilient city, well-being, systematic literature review, thematic analysis, construction industry, professionalism, post-disaster reconstruction, journal |
| Subjects: | mental health and wellbeing, industry analysis, post-disaster and reconstruction, research dissemination and communication, research evaluation and metrics, methods and analysis, building construction, sustainability and resilience, management, ethical practice, professional development, data management |
| Topics: | Urban Studies, Engineering Principles, Information Management, Research Practice, Human Resources, Digital Applications, Health and Safety |
| 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