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The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of a collaborative framework for balancing stakeholder power and social responsibilities in construction projects. To resolve the problems of unclear responsibility that is common in construction projects, the framework is designed to help stakeholders identify their roles in various issues and to facilitate collaborative endeavours by elucidating their responsibilities.

The framework is designed using a scientific approach based on a problem-solution paradigm. It is developed as a model that would provide strategies for responding to various issues and that would also balance stakeholder responsibilities with power. A case study is conducted to validate the framework in an ongoing real estate project in China.

The effectiveness of the framework is validated from the case study, which found that the engagement of stakeholders is improved by adopting the framework. It is also found that use of the framework led to enhancement of communication and trust, and better collaboration through a collective form of responsibility.

The study provides valuable insights into stakeholder collaboration on social responsibility issues in construction projects. The dynamic nature of stakeholders is addressed, and an easy-to-follow framework is offered for use in construction projects.

The existence of codes of ethics in most organizations does not seem to have reduced unethical behaviour especially in the construction organizations due to lack of effective ethics management such as embeddedness of ethical codes. The purpose of this paper is to bridge the current knowledge gap by highlighting the principal factors determining the embeddedness of codes of ethics in construction organizations.

Questionnaires detailing 30 factors determining ethical code embeddedness were sent to professionals in construction organizations in Hong Kong. In total, 160 valid responses were analysed by mean score and exploratory factor analysis.

Based on the mean score, “protecting anyone who exposes alleged wrongdoing”, “managers acting as role models” and “giving code standards with explanation to new employees” are the three factors that ranked highest. From the results of factor analysis, six factors were extracted, including; process of code internalization, identification and remover of barriers, process of enacting value, process of accountability, process of coding and process of monitoring. These are processes that enable proper integration of codes of ethics within construction organization.

While this study has provided useful information regarding ethical codes, the limitation is inherent in the population of the study in that, percentage representation of construction organizations in Hong Kong could not be presented. This was due to the sensitivity of ethics as perceived by construction practitioners. The authors, at the initial stage, sent invitation letters to several organizations inviting them to participate in the research but they all declined. Therefore, the data collection approach discussed earlier was adopted and the questionnaire was made strictly anonymous which made it difficult to classify organizations that are represented. Nevertheless, it is hoped that this paper will engineer a change in research direction and open up new discussion channels.

The results presented in this study provide sufficient evidence and useful pointers to clarify some misconceptions about factors determining code embeddedness. These findings help to clarify what the high-prioritized factors are, and could also be used as an assessment tool to evaluate performance of an organization regarding codes of ethics and thus help to identify areas requiring improvement.

Managing ethics has come to be considered a management discipline, especially since the birth of business ethics and social responsibility movements in the 1960s. However, there seems to be no comprehensive review and synthesis of ethics management literature in construction. This research aims to address the theory‐practice gap by providing a critical review of the ethics decision‐making literature.

The study examines critically the ethics decision‐making literature from the 1980s to 2008.

Three research focuses, relating to the construction industry in ethical decision making, are identified: empirical studies on examining the associations between variables (individuals, situational/organisational, moral intensity) and employees' ethical behaviour in construction organisational contexts; continuous application of behavioural science theories to develop an appropriate ethical decision‐making model for the industry; and research on group and/or organisational level behaviour ethics.

The study identifies, draws together, and integrates existing theories and research, with a particular emphasis on ethical decision‐making models, to present the key contributions in the realm of ethics decision making.

The paper highlights the role of management (both as an academic discipline and from a practitioner perspective) in bridging this gap.

The research adds value to the literature on ethics management, where limited knowledge exists in the construction industry.

Setting measurable criteria for implementing ethical codes is a pivotal issue in construction organizations. This paper aims to present an approach for evaluating ethical codes implementation within an organization based on 30 indicators for effective implementation of codes of ethics, with the objective of enhancing employees’ ethical behaviour within the organization.

This study builds on a theoretical model that was developed using existing classification in the literature, including six processes of ethical codes implementation (process of: identification and removal of barriers, coding, internalization, enacting values, monitoring and accountability). The model was validated by applying partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) estimation approach on questionnaire survey data which were collected from construction practitioners in Hong Kong. Fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE) analysis was adopted to assess the level of ethical code implementation.

The results of the PLS-SEM indicate a good model fit, and the model has a substantial predictive power and satisfactory model representation. Thus, the model is suitable for measuring or evaluating codes of ethics implementation within organization. The process of “enacting value” has the greatest influence on “ethical code implementation”. The results of FSE indicate that the overall level of implementation of ethical codes is high, but there are rooms for further improvement.

The response to the self-assessment questionnaire used for measuring the extent of implementation is relatively low, but it was adequate for statistical analyses considering the fact that it represents the second stage of data collection in a longitudinal manner, and only the respondents who participated in the initial questionnaire survey were asked to participate. The essence of doing this is to test the model for the purpose of self-evaluation of construction organizations regarding codes implementation. Thus, the outcomes are not representative enough for the entire construction organizations in Hong Kong. However, the model was tested to demonstrate how to reflect the strengths and weaknesses of construction companies in Hong Kong with respects to ethical code implementation to identify areas requiring improvement.

Facilities managers can benefit from the findings of this study by applying the model to assess ethical codes implementation within the organization to enhance ethical behaviour.

The main contribution of this study is the generation of a framework for measuring the extent of implementation of ethical codes within construction organizations. The contribution from this study can add significant value to facilities management discipline as well, being a business-oriented sector. As ethical behaviour plays an important role in delivering various facilities. The approach used in this study is useful for facilities managers in the process of implementing codes of ethics.