Development of a Social Media Maturity Model -- A Grounded Theory Approach

Social media has become part of everyday lives. Discussions about whether social media is relevant to organizations no longer exist, instead, discussions on how to successfully adopt social media prevail. With much uncertainty on what it takes to reach excellence in social media use, companies often start with an uncoordinated approach, not taking into account all potential threats. However, little research is done on the diverse components of an organization that are influenced by the use of social media. Furthermore, a common understanding on when a company is "ready" for social media application is missing. Thus, this work seeks to describe a generic approach on assessing social media maturity. Applying grounded theory, a first version for a maturity model is developed which will serve as a tool for introducing and assessing organizational social media activities, including a set of relevant demographic information, organizational prerequisites, as well as dimensions of maturity.