Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is an approach that can be used to integrate different services across operating systems, platforms, languages, and networks which offer some benefits. However, many organizations fail to fully utilize SOA because the adoption processes are still immature. Therefore, an exploratory study was conducted to investigate current issues and practices of SOA adoption, the use of maturity levels for assessing SOA adoption, and the importance of information technology (IT) and business benefits in SOA adoption. Thus, the Grounded Theory approach was adapted in this study which involved seven software development companies in Malaysia. In this study, 14 SOA practitioners with at least three years of experience in SOA development were interviewed. The collected data was analyzed through three main coding stages: open, axial and selective coding. The theory which emerged from this study revealed SOA adoption issues, current practices, maturity levels,