Building a Data Governance Culture: Overcoming Organizational Resistance in Central Asia

The study focuses on developing an adapted Data Governance implementation model for organizations in Central Asia. The objective is to identify key success factors and implementation barriers, and to design a structured implementation roadmap. The theoretical framework is based on international Data Governance standards and change management models. The empirical study relies on semi-structured interviews with representatives of public institutions and financial and telecommunications organizations. The findings reveal common challenges, including the lack of formal data ownership roles, fragmented processes, limited executive involvement, and low data maturity. As a result, an adapted maturity model, a measurable performance indicator system, and an incremental implementation roadmap were developed, reflecting the region's institutional context. The proposed model has practical applicability for organizations in Central Asia.