Collusions in bidding are unethical and harmful practices in business yet ubiquitous in reality. However, the mechanism and influential factors of collusions remain obscure in the literature on business ethics research. To fill this research gap, we conducted a study based on survey data covering 510 managers in the Chinese construction industry. Our study reveals that corporate social relations, corporate codes of ethics, common industry practice, and industry legal context jointly predict managers’ ethical evaluation, which leads to the intention of collusive behaviors. This relationship is moderated by the pressure from the employee performance evaluation and industry competition. However, information disclosure is not found to influence the relationship. Based on these findings and in the effort of reducing collusive behaviors in construction project bidding, our research provides suggestions for business decision-makers and policymakers.
