Abstract
<jats:p>The issue of unethical practices in the construction sector is increasingly gaining considerable focus globally. Unethical practices within the industry have resulted in poor quality work, staff turnover, project failures, building collapse, and sometimes deaths. This study seeks to explore the most common unethical practices in the Oman construction sector. Prior to this study, no research has been undertaken within Oman to identify the prevalent ethical issues with a view to remedying them. The closest to such a study was the 2023 Annual report of the State Audit Institution of Oman. A survey was conducted among construction professionals in Oman using a stratified random approach. IBM SPSS statistical software was used for the analysis. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) with Monte Carlo PCA for parallel analysis revealed that Corruption, procurement fraud and contractors’ falsification of capacity were the most prevalent unethical practices within the Oman construction sector. No statistically significant differences were found between Omani respondents and non-Omani expatriates or between public and private sector respondents. Policy makers, academic institutions and the Oman Society of Engineers (OSE) now have a task to reform industry practices to eliminate both corruption and procurement fraud and engender effective and better contractor selection criteria.</jats:p>