A digital business ecosystem maturity model for personal service firms

Abstract: Personal services can be found in sectors such as education, retail, hospitality, and craftsmanship. As of today, personal service firms lack the know-how and experience on how to implement processes and practices to effectively build digital business ecosystems. This becomes an obstacle for these kinds of firms to overcome the challenges of todays digital age. Based on the guidelines of Design Science Research (DSR), we address this gap by proposing a maturity model, which offers specific guidance for this sector to be able to achieve the transition from analog to digital. The design of the model is grounded in a systematic literature review, semi-structured interviews, and a validation test involving company representatives from the field of personal services, business ecosystems, and digitalization. Results revealed a series of dimensions, capabilities, and maturity stages indicating an evolutionary path towards digital maturity for personal service firms. Thus, leading them to achieve a digital business ecosystem.