Alexandre J. C. de Freitas · Rômulo F. dos Santos · Marcelo L. Pereira Júnior · Claudio G. Duque
Organizations increasingly depend on data for operational, regulatory, and strategic decisions, yet the existence of policies, technologies, or formal roles does not establish that Data Governance is institutionally mature. This methodological article presents an initial development protocol for a Data Governance maturity assessment instrument. The construct is defined as the degree to which decision rights, accountabilities, policies, controls, and governed data-management capabilities are formally established, consistently enacted, supported by verifiable evidence, monitored through performance information, and continuously improved in alignment with organizational purpose, legal requirements, ethical principles, and stakeholder needs. The proposed measurement model is multidimensional, criterion-referenced, and predominantly formative or composite. Seven preliminary dimensions are specified, and a bank of forty-nine candidate capability statements is introduced. A five-stage behaviorally anchored response rubric replaces agreement-based Likert responses, while "Cannot assess" and "Not applicable" are treated separately. The primary intended output is a noncompensatory capability profile supported by multiple informants and documentary evidence; no validated overall score or cutoff is claimed. The article also specifies a future validation protocol covering content validity, cognitive interviewing, pretesting, pilot studies, model evaluation, interrater agreement, temporal stability, relations with external variables, invariance, and sensitivity to change. The contribution is therefore conceptual and procedural: a transparent protocol to be empirically assessed rather than a validated organizational diagnostic tool.
REMUNOM, 2026.
DOI 10.66104/esdp6465