From Maturity Scores to Diagnostic Configurations: A Multidimensional Kinetic Matrix for Public-Sector Digital Transformation

Abstract

ABSTRACT
Public-sector digital assessment frequently emphasizes maturity levels and aggregate rankings, while managerial intervention requires a diagnosis of uneven capabilities, reform constraints, system dependencies, and rights protection. This article develops a Multidimensional Kinetic Matrix as a complementary diagnostic artifact. Following Design Science Research, six literature-derived requirements are translated into three organizational dimensions, an interdimensional variance measure, and three distinct computational mechanisms. A reform-velocity engine relates strategic enabling capacity to residual bureaucratic friction. An interoperability-gravity engine weights digital-system capability by downstream service dependencies. An equity corrector constrains technical impact through accessibility, neutrality, and the right to redress. Analytical evaluation uses prespecified synthetic scenarios, comparative profiles, sensitivity checks, and boundary tests. Organizations with the same average score can exhibit different imbalances; the velocity function remains bounded and responds systematically to lower friction; central digital nodes can be prioritized by their dependency structure; and deficient rights protection substantially reduces adjusted impact. The combined architecture thus distinguishes where an organization stands, how balanced it is, what impedes movement, where network leverage lies, and whether anticipated technical benefits meet an explicit equity constraint. These results establish diagnostic discriminability and internal computational coherence under explicitly specified controlled assumptions, not field effectiveness. Naturalistic evaluation is the subsequent research step.

Keywords: Design Science Research; configurational diagnosis; organizational asymmetry; public value; reform dynamics; interoperability governance; non-compensatory equity.