A Maturity Model for Sustainability: Merging Business Practices with IT

Firms must comply with sustainability standards, laws, and regulations, which pose challenges and substantial opportunities to develop more sustainable infrastructure and processes. However, firms encounter challenges such as overlapping requirements, a lack of workforce, and financial resources to fulfill the demands while aiming to adhere to regulations, necessitating a proactive, risk-based supply chain strategy. Consequently, we propose an IT-data-driven maturity model for sustainability compiled with artificial intelligence technology to automate processes and prepare and propose guidance and decisions for firms´ supply chain operations. This research contributes to Green IS using design science research methodology complemented with a mixed-method approach by developing a maturity model embedded with industrial standards, using information technology as an enabler and driver for automation, efficiency, and profitability. We finalize by discussing the paper´s contribution, the planned research design and activities, and limitations.