Maturing maturity models – a methodological extension using the analytical hierarchy process and Google PageRank

Abstract

Maturity models are used in various application domains, as they provide well-structured overviews about companies’ as-is situations in a certain discipline due to applying different stages of development. However, maturity models face criticism. Most maturity models structure only their respective field of activity without adding value for decision-making purposes. There is a lack of models for prescriptive purposes that help derive and balance concrete improvement measures. In addition, maturity models are criticised for oversimplifying reality. To address this gap, we propose a methodological extension to enhance maturity models, such that they explicitly account for the importance of multiple capability areas and consider the impact of the interactions among capability areas. To do so, we combine methods from multi-criteria decision-making, that is, the error-adjusted Analytical Hierarchy Process, and from network analytics, that is, the Google PageRank.

Keywords:

• Maturity models
• analytical hierarchy process
• PageRank
• corporate decision-making

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.