Rethinking project management maturity models for the South African power sector

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the current Project Management Maturity Models (PMMM) described in the literature are suitable for the South African (SA) power sector. The research objective of this paper is to map the main PMMM to address the suitability for the SA power sector. The research question this paper addresses is: “How are the main maturity models in project management for the SA power sector?” The study is based on a literature review. The literature search is categorized over a 19-year period from 2000 to 2019 using 28 databases. The analysis covered data from published papers, conference papers, government white papers, books, and relevant materials of the institutions. This analysis was undertaken to decide whether there was a need to develop a PMMM for SA's power sector. The paper establishes characteristics of the SA power sector through a literature review and a PESTLE analysis. The findings of the study indicate that the bulk of the models were adaptations of existing models. The ones that are not direct adaptions are discussed in this paper. The findings indicate that the current models are not completely suitable for SA's power sector. Large multinational projects taking place in SA need to consider the SA environment before entering SA markets in the power sector. The current literature indicates that there is a gap pertaining to a PMMM for SA's power sector. The theoretical contribution of the paper identifies the characteristics of SA power sector; lists the current maturity models and provides an analysis of 28 models and assesses the suitability of the current PMMM for the SA power sector. The major contribution of this study provides a PESTLE analysis for SA's power sector. The sector specific factors have also been provided.