JOAMS 2026 Vol.14(1): 7-15
doi: 10.18178/joams.14.1.7-15
doi: 10.18178/joams.14.1.7-15
Sustainability Maturity Grids in Procurement: A Literature Review of Existing Frameworks
Tatiana Gatzka and Wanja Wellbrock*
Faculty of Economics, Heilbronn University, Heilbronn, Germany
Email: tatiana.gatzka@icloud.com (T.G.); wanja.wellbrock@hs-heilbronn.de (W.W.)
*Corresponding author
Email: tatiana.gatzka@icloud.com (T.G.); wanja.wellbrock@hs-heilbronn.de (W.W.)
*Corresponding author
Manuscript received January 1, 2026; accepted February 2, 2026; published February 28, 2026.
Abstract—This literature review explores how sustainability can be effectively integrated into procurement processes through the use of maturity grids. The study provides an overview of existing sustainability maturity grids in procurement. It identifies key drivers, current trends, and barriers to implementation. The literature review highlights the growing influence of key driver concepts such as the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria. A critical analysis of existing maturity grids reveals significant gaps including the lack of well-defined KPIs, insufficient differentiation between sustainability dimensions and limited coverage of the procurement process stages. The findings underline the need for a more detailed and practical sustainability maturity grid that can guide companies in assessing and improving their procurement strategies. This paper lays the theoretical foundation for the development of such a grid in future research.
Keywords—sustainable procurement, maturity grid, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), triple bottom line, Triple Bottom Line (TBL)
Copyright © 2026 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY-4.0), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided that the article is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

