Abstract

Rapid advances in digital technologies create significant opportunities for organizations, while simultaneously increasing complexity, uncertainty, and managerial risk. In response, organizations increasingly engage in digital transformation (DT) initiatives that require effective steering, coordination, and governance across organizational domains. Digital transformation maturity models (DTMMs) are widely used as management artefacts to support such efforts, for example, by assessing the current state, structuring transformation roadmaps, and communicating progress. However, existing DTMMs differ substantially in their design, purpose of use, and underlying maturity dimensions, making their selection and application as steering instruments challenging for both researchers and practitioners. To address this issue, the study conducts a systematic literature review of 13 DTMMs and analyzes them with regard to their scope, purpose of use, and coverage of DT-related dimensions. The findings show that most DTMMs are generic and predominantly descriptive, exhibit substantial variation in their underlying maturity dimensions, and provide limited support for context-sensitive steering and governance of DT initiatives. By synthesizing these design characteristics, the study advances a conceptual understanding of DTMMs as steering artefacts for DT and highlights implications for their use in managing technology-enabled transformation processes.

Download

Share

COinS