Fair Practice Evaluation Model for Public Construction Projects: Focusing on the Korean Construction Market

Despite the importance of client’s role in securing public trust, fairness, and equity in all transactions within the construction market, little is known about the current state of fair trade practices committed by the clients in public construction projects. Therefore, this study proposes an evaluation model for assessing fair practice of public project clients in the Korean construction industry. Twenty-four indicators grouped into six categories were derived as an evaluation framework through literature review, media, and expert interview. A questionnaire survey was conducted to evaluate the performance of fair practice and derive the gap between perceived importance and performance of each indicator. A total of 95 responses was analyzed using gap analysis and importance-performance analysis (IPA) to reveal specific practices with the highest priority for improvement. Lastly, this study proposes a performance evaluation index (PEI) to quantitatively rate the score on fairness of public clients in Korea. This study provides a thorough insight on the forms of unfair practice in the Korean construction industry, of which the results would be especially useful for industry practitioners and policy makers to effectively deal with unfair practices in the construction industry.