The Organizational Value of Humility: Proposing a Typology of Culture Maturity

Purpose -Although virtuous practices enhance organizational excellence, the virtue and culture of humility are little studied in the field of management due to their conceptual challenges.In order to cover this gap, and considering that the virtue of humility is increasingly evolving as a cultural value, this study proposes a typology of humility culture maturity (THCM) that signals a progressive path of this virtue as a value in organizations.Theoretical framework -This theoretical-exploratory study is derived from Schein's (2010) organizational culture models, Galbraith's (1983) concepts, Maldonado et al.'s (2018) organizational humility model, and Owens et al.'s (2013, 2015) individual humility model.Design/methodology/approach -The typology design is based on the procedures for configuring culture maturity models, such as those of Parker (2006) and Rocha et al. (2024).Findings -The combination of these theories makes it possible to propose a continuum of five stages of culture maturity: rhetorical, embryonic, stimulated, full and virtuous, with each stage reflecting different behavioral regimes respectively, progressing from unconcerned, reactive, obligatory, voluntary to unconscious, where humility practices are performed in an organic way and internalized in virtuous actions, in a demonstration of culture maturity. Practical & social implications of research -The study broadens the understanding of the humility culture, making its analysis more useful, since it indicates specific descriptions and behaviors of humility related to each stage of cultural progression towards maturity.This theoretical study makes the examination of humility in organizations more utilitarian, opening space for further design and empirical testing of both functional models of organizational culture and humility culture maturity, which are instrumentally lacking in the literature and so important for organizational excellence.Originality/value -The THCM represents an original proposal that fills a gap in the literature in management studies dedicated to organizational humility and humility culture maturity.