The adaptation of business process management maturity models to the context of the knowledge economy

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the current business process management (BPM) maturity models meet the requirements of evaluating organizations in the knowledge economy (KE) which manage processes in a dynamic way. Design/methodology/approach In this study, a content analysis of the OMG (2008) Business Process Maturity Model and ten research papers on the practical application of business process management maturity models was conducted. The nature of the study is descriptive and based solely on information from secondary data sources. Findings The research results reveal that the current BPM maturity models do not correspond with the knowledge-based organizations and take into account knowledge-intensive (usually dynamic) processes in a very limited way. That is why the adaptation of the current BPM maturity models to the KE is needed. Originality/value This paper contributes to the BPM theory and practice in two ways. First, it provides an enhanced insight into the requirements of the KE toward BPM and BPM maturity models by distinguishing between static and dynamic processes. Second, it formulates the recommendations on possible ways of adapting the current BPM maturity models to the requirements of the KE.