Outpacing the Competition: A Design Principle Framework for Comparative Digital Maturity Models

Maximilian Breitruck

2025

Abstract

Digital maturity models (DMMs) already have a long history of providing organizations with structured approaches for assessing and guiding their digital transformation initiatives. While descriptive and prescriptive DMMs have seen extensive development, comparatively few models focus on benchmarking digital maturity internally as well as externally across multiple organizations. Moreover, existing literature frequently highlights persistent shortcomings, including limited theoretical grounding, methodological inconsistencies, and inadequate empirical validation. This study addresses these gaps by synthesizing insights from a systematic literature review of 58 publications into a cohesive set of design principles for comparative DMMs. We differentiate between “usage design principles,” which adapt established descriptive and prescriptive DMM components to comparative contexts, and newly formulated principles developed specifically to accommodate implicit data sources and support ongoing benchmarking. The resulting framework provides researchers and practitioners with a foundation for designing, evaluating, and selecting comparative DMMs that are more conceptually robust, methodologically sound, and empirically viable. Ultimately, this work aims to enhance the overall maturity and applicability of comparative DMMs in advancing organizational digital transformation.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Breitruck M. (2025). Outpacing the Competition: A Design Principle Framework for Comparative Digital Maturity Models. In Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems - Volume 2: ICEIS; ISBN 978-989-758-749-8, SciTePress, pages 746-757. DOI: 10.5220/0013427700003929

in Bibtex Style

@conference{iceis25,
author={Maximilian Breitruck},
title={Outpacing the Competition: A Design Principle Framework for Comparative Digital Maturity Models},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems - Volume 2: ICEIS},
year={2025},
pages={746-757},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013427700003929},
isbn={978-989-758-749-8},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems - Volume 2: ICEIS
TI - Outpacing the Competition: A Design Principle Framework for Comparative Digital Maturity Models
SN - 978-989-758-749-8
AU - Breitruck M.
PY - 2025
SP - 746
EP - 757
DO - 10.5220/0013427700003929
PB - SciTePress