Title: Sustainability management in non-governmental organisations: development of a maturity model

Authors: Martin Albert; Xenia Bauche; Luisa Closmann; Tobias Eichholz; Katharina Preis

Addresses: Chemnitz University of Technology, Professorship for Innovation Research and Technology Management, Thüringer Weg 7, 09126 Chemnitz, Germany ' Chemnitz University of Technology, Professorship for Innovation Research and Technology Management, Thüringer Weg 7, 09126 Chemnitz, Germany ' Chemnitz University of Technology, Professorship for Innovation Research and Technology Management, Thüringer Weg 7, 09126 Chemnitz, Germany ' Chemnitz University of Technology, Professorship for Innovation Research and Technology Management, Thüringer Weg 7, 09126 Chemnitz, Germany ' Chemnitz University of Technology, Professorship for Innovation Research and Technology Management, Thüringer Weg 7, 09126 Chemnitz, Germany

Abstract: Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) address social and/or ecological challenges often through their direct work, which is called the demand-side of NGOs. In this paper, the focus lies on the supply-side, the sustainability management in NGOs. The research goal is to evaluate the sustainability management in NGOs with the help of a maturity model. For the development of such a maturity model, a mixed-method approach is used in a sequential mixed design, consisting of a systematic literature review, qualitative expert interviews, qualitative content analyses, quantitative questionnaire, and descriptive statistical data analysis. Seven dimensions of sustainability management in NGOs could be identified: concept of sustainability management, management (systemic capability), financial sustainability, public relations, stakeholder management, top-down strategy, and bottom-up personal initiative. With the help of a developed and partly evaluated model, the maturity level of the sustainability management of 35 German NGOs are analysed, and results are presented.

Keywords: sustainability; sustainability management; non-governmental organisation; non-profit organisation; maturity model; mixed-methods.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISD.2022.123905

International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, 2022 Vol.16 No.3/4, pp.425 - 460

Received: 15 Jul 2020
Accepted: 03 Jun 2021
Published online: 04 Jul 2022 *

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