Dynamic evaluation of corruption in public project procurement: a comparative study of emerging and established economies

Abstract

The evolution and dynamism of corrupt practices have not only been tagged as one of the most critical socio-economic setbacks of governments and institutions but has also been identified to be one of the unending or cyclical phenomena globally. Public projects are not exempted from the effects of corruption. On the contrary, they are also greatly affected by the incident of corruption. Given that the industry responsible for executing public projects (i.e., the construction industry) is noted as the second most corrupt industry in the world coupled with the procurement process of projects identified as the most susceptible process to corruption globally. However, even though corruption is a global issue, the incidence, proliferation, and effects vary from context to context (i.e., from county to county and institutions to institutions). Anti-corruption advocates and researchers have extended both individual and collaborative efforts to explore the dynamism and effects of corruption over the past decades and centuries. However, analogous to a virus, the evolution of corruption never stops. Moreover, while efforts are being expended in the exploration of corruption in different fields such as sociology, criminology, business, among others, it forms one of the least research concerns for project management-related and construction management related scholars. As a result, even though corruption constitutes one of the topmost critical concerns in the project management and construction management-related domains, little attention has been devoted in this regard by related scholars, specifically in the developing context. Against these backdrops, this research examines this long-standing socio-economic plague in public infrastructure projects holistically. Specifically, this research explores all prevailing constructs of corruption in public project planning, procurement, and management. Thus, this study investigates the various forms of corrupt practices and their associated causal factors of corruption in public infrastructure projects. It continues with the examination of procurement irregularities or risk indicators of corruption, anti-corruption measures (ACMs) developed and enforced to extirpate the proliferation and the effects of corruption, and lastly, the barriers that hamper the efficacy of the existing anti-corruption measures. This research employs diverse methodological tools and techniques to realize the aim and objectives of this research. They include but not limited to descriptive statistics, fuzzy synthetic evaluation, social network analysis, among others. Data is gathered from both relevant literature and the experts identified through non-probabilistic sampling techniques. The results indicate that the project procurement process in the developing context is susceptible to corruption. Although the negative constructs (causes of corruption, risk indicators, and the barriers that hamper the efficacy of ACMs) were revealed to have a significant impact on the procurement process, none of the anti-corruption measures was identified to be effective. Intensive efforts are needed to help address the issue of corruption in public projects, especially at the various stages of the procurement process. The models and framework developed in this research constitute proposed overarching measures to help address and extirpate corruption prevalent in public projects. The models developed are intended to help predict and evaluate the incidence and proliferation of corrupt practices throughout the different phases of the project procurement process with the sole aim to help fight corruption prevalent in public project procurement. Moreover, the overall framework developed is intended to inform project parties, anti-corruption activists, contract administrators and other relevant procurement-related experts about the dynamics and evolution of corrupt practices with their associated causal factors in projects and the specific efforts to extirpate their influence and effects throughout the most vulnerable process to corruption globally (i.e., the procurement process).