Institutional Barriers to Professionalization of Quantity Surveying in Fragile States: Evidence from North East Nigeria

The professionalisation of quantity surveying in conflict-affected and fragile state contexts faces distinct institutional challenges that differ fundamentally from those in stable environments. This study investigates the institutional barriers to professionalisation of quantity surveying in fragile state contexts, using North East Nigeria as the primary empirical focus. An interpretive ontology and critical institutionalist theoretical framework underpin the study. Data were generated through 70 in-depth interviews with quantity surveying practitioners, NIQS officials, NGO construction managers, and government reconstruction coordinators in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa States, supplemented by archival analysis of professional registration data. Institutional theory concepts including cognitive, normative, and regulative pillars were used as analytical categories. Findings reveal that conflict-driven displacement of qualified practitioners, collapse of regulatory enforcement capacity, substitution of professional services by non-qualified personnel in humanitarian contracts, and absence of professional liability accountability create a deinstitutionalisation dynamic that is self-reinforcing. The study identifies a paradox whereby the humanitarian system's rapid procurement requirements systematically undermine the professional standards it nominally endorses. An original Fragile State Professionalisation Model (FSPM) is developed to guide NIQS and international professional bodies in supporting practice under duress. This research makes a novel contribution to professionalisation theory in construction by extending institutional analysis to fragile and conflict-affected contexts. Keywords: professionalisation, fragile states, North East Nigeria, quantity surveying, institutional theory