Guidelines for the prevention of corruption in the Croatian construction sector should concern three levels: the level of the state, the level of professional associations, and the level of companies.
At the state level, the issue of corrupt civil servants has been pointed out. Greater transparency could contribute to the reduction of corruption to a significant extent. According to Sohail and Cavill (2008), promoting higher transparency with regard to activities carried out by civil servants discourages them from getting involved in corrupt transactions. Moreover, it raises citizens’ awareness of the goods and services they should receive.
It is evident that some corrupt practices are considered to be very acceptable in business, such as speeding up processes through contact, which is a good indicator of the fact that the Croatian authorities should work on cutting and easing the procedures related to obtaining certain licences. Furthermore, it is also necessary to reduce excess administration and administrative procedures in Croatia.
Companies should take measures to protect themselves from corruption by implementing proactive and comprehensive anti-corruption programmes. It is necessary to carry out adequate measures related to construction site inspections, such as supervising the amount of materials used in construction, and amount of work. Internal financial controls and audit procedures are crucial for the restriction and supervision of financial activities within a company (Robertson et al., 2014).
Education is the key to combating corruption. Understanding that bribery and corruption disrupt the market and reduce profits is a large part of preventing corrupt activities. It is necessary to equip the construction industry with relevant anti-corruption training. According to CIOB (2013), undergoing training should not be perceived as an arduous and expensive process because such programmes have many advantages: a higher profitability, openness to new business, and restored reputation of the construction sector.
Professional associations play the main role in regulating the behaviour of members according to an equal assessment. There are efforts to develop ethical standards for the construction sector. Companies should be thoroughly checked in order to ensure that partners in a joint investment do not abuse their position either on the commercial or state level so as to influence the contract award decision.
5. CONCLUSION
Corruption in the construction industry is a frequent occurrence in most countries. According to the respondents of this survey, the Croatian construction sector also faces serious corruption issues. More than 90% of the respondents believe it is a frequent occurrence in the construction sector. Many respondents claim that there is confusion with regard to the perception of corruption, and these cultural reasons (something that seems corrupt to one person can be a usual practice to another person) are highlighted as frequent reasons for corruption. Furthermore, a large percentage of subcontracting is considered by many to be a usually frequent source of corruption, along with the economic difficulties that the construction sector in Croatia is currently suffering.
With regard to frequent construction practices, the respondents find the contracting process to be the activity which is the most susceptible to corruption. A large number of them declare revealing information to authorised bidders corrupt. Moreover, they believe that corrupt practices often occur in connection with recording the amount of work. The respondents believe that corruption is more likely to occur at the senior management level, nearly 70% of them think that it is likely to occur at the local government level, while 60% of them suspected the state authority level.
The small number of survey respondents is a limitation of this study. However, the fact that this research represents the first research in Croatia on the topic of corruption in the construction sector makes it relevant. As was mentioned at the beginning, the authors hope that
this overview of the research results will stimulate further research of corruption in the construction sector, and encourage more people to participate in such research.
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