Abstract

The construction industry is often labelled with ethical issues due to its nature and the fact that multidisciplinary stakeholders are often involved in various phases of the project. The multiple participants in construction projects often make them more prone to unethical practices, and project coordination is also a daunting task. Previous studies on ethical issues primarily focused on traditional construction project coordination and processes with limited attention to construction projects coordinated virtually. As a result, this study attempts to investigate the ethical issues in virtual project coordination. This study uses a quantitative approach to obtain the opinions of construction professionals such as architects, quantity surveyors, builders, engineers, and project managers with practical involvement in virtual construction projects. The data retrieved were analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics namely mean score, standard deviation, Shapiro Wilk test, Mann-Whitney U test, and factor analysis. Based on the results of the analysis, the ethical issues in virtual project coordination were classified into communication and managerial issues, cooperation and environmental issues, and coordination and moral issues. To address the ethical issues in virtual project coordination, it is expedient for construction professionals and project stakeholders to work as a team with a common goal, select suitable project management tools and exhibit professional ethics in discharging their duties on the project. This paper investigated the ethical issues peculiar to virtual construction project coordination. This study is important in the present technological age to ensure continual delivery of construction projects with anticipated outcomes.