Prioritizing an Integrity-Based Approach to Ethics Management for Sustainable Infrastructure Delivery in Developing Economies

Abstract Unethical practices continue to undermine the delivery and sustainability of infrastructure projects in developing economies, where compliance-based ethics measures often exist only on paper and fail to address deep institutional weaknesses. Although integrity-based approaches to ethics management (IBAEM) offer a more proactive and value-driven alternative, little empirical evidence exists on how their core components should be prioritized in environments characterized by corruption, weak enforcement, and resource constraints. This study addresses this gap by assessing and ranking the key components of IBAEM within Nigeria’s construction industry. A survey of 149 construction professionals was analyzed using a Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation (FSE) approach to capture the inherent ambiguity and subjectivity of ethical judgements. The findings show that internal ethics audits and ethical leadership (i.e., management responsibility) are perceived as the most critical components for strengthening ethical conduct and supporting sustainable infrastructure delivery. The study provides a structured, evidence-based ordering of IBAEM components tailored to corruption-prone contexts, offering practical guidance for construction organizations seeking to target their integrity investments where they are likely to have the greatest effect.