Maturity models as an appropriate approach for knowledge management?

Maturity models have been successfully used in a number of areas, such as software development and supply chain management, and their success has made them appealing for other areas, including knowledge management. This study questions the validity of the existing maturity models in knowledge management and attempts to build one using a transparent development process. However, the research leads to unexpected results; it demonstrates that building a maturity model for knowledge management is problematic, and questions the very framework and the hierarchy of parameters of the process maturity as well. These findings were enabled by employing a combination of two methods: machine learning using knowledge-based expert system (also referred to as inductive or case-based reasoning, CBR) and correlation analysis, of which the former is new to this type of research.