Professionalism and Ethics: Challenges in Post-Disaster Reconstruction

There is an increased demand for construction professionals to undertake rebuilding after disasters to reconstruct resilient cities ensuring the well-being of people. However, the post-disaster context is usually chaotic, time-compressed, resource-deprived, politically influenced, and legally challenged. Therefore, despite the construction industry being criticised for lack of professionalism and for the common occurrence of unethical conduct in its ordinary context, being professional and ethical in the post-disaster reconstruction (PDR) context is a greater challenge. However, professionalism and ethics in the context of PDR have not been explored. Therefore, this study aims to identify challenges relating to professionalism and ethics in PDR through a systematic literature review. After screening 507 articles obtained from Scopus databases, 39 peer-reviewed journal articles and reports published between 2008 and 2023 were reviewed. The thematic analysis revealed six intra-industry challenges and five extra-industry challenges that affect professionalism and ethics in PDR. This paper contributes to the existing literature on Professionalism and Ethics, particularly in PDR and construction, and provides a critical foundation for future research suggesting that a multi-disciplinary perspective would be most appropriate.