A Digital Sustainability Maturity Framework for Assessing Industry 4.0 and ESG Integration

The growing convergence of digital transformation and sustainability requirements necessitates the development of integrated analytical frameworks that enable the simultaneous assessment of an organization’s technological maturity and its ESG maturity. Existing Industry 4.0 maturity models predominantly focus on technological aspects, while ESG frameworks emphasize reporting and regulatory compliance, often overlooking the organizational and technological conditions required to achieve higher levels of maturity. Although prior research provides growing evidence on the relationships between digital transformation and sustainability, it still lacks integrated frameworks that systematically combine technological maturity, organizational capabilities, ESG maturity, and sustainability performance outcomes within a single analytical structure. The aim of this article is to address this gap by proposing the Digital Sustainability Maturity Framework (DSMF), an integrated maturity model that combines Industry 4.0 maturity, digital enablement factors, ESG maturity, and sustainability performance outcomes within a coherent cause-and-effect structure. The model is based on hypothesized relationships that digital maturity influences the development of ESG maturity both directly and indirectly through organizational capabilities related to data management, digital competencies, and process integration. This article is conceptual and methodological in nature and proposes a theoretically grounded framework for future empirical validation. It develops a theoretical framework and proposes a structured measurement instrument intended for future empirical validation. Based on a literature review, the structure of the model and a set of research hypotheses describing the relationships between its key dimensions were developed. The DSMF model was subsequently operationalized in the form of a survey instrument designed to assess an organization’s maturity level across four model dimensions. Conceptual validation and instrument development of the model was conducted, and a procedure for its empirical verification using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLSSEM) was outlined. The proposed model contributes to the literature by integrating the perspectives of digital transformation and sustainability within a single maturity framework, treating ESG maturity as a data-driven organizational capability supported by Industry 4.0 technologies. From a practical perspective, the DSMF is proposed as a potential diagnostic tool that may support managers in assessing the alignment between digitalization and ESG performance and in identifying areas requiring further development, subject to future empirical validation.