Multi-level theoretical framework for future potential organizations: values, culture, and development orientation

Purpose This study aims to focuse on future potential organizations (FPOs). We seek to answer the question of which individual, interpersonal and organizational factors, capabilities and values are the most important predictors of the functioning of FPOs. Design/methodology/approach This being a conceptual paper, the aim of the paper is to offer a theoretical framework. The proposed model incorporates our assumptions, which are formulated as a result of the analysis of available literature. The paper compares interpretations of future potentiality and sustainability through a systematic literature analysis. The validity of the model is to be verified by subsequent empirical research. Findings In total, 21 variables were identified that belong to one of the following areas: the default values of future potentiality, the values of an organizational culture that supports development and the elements of development orientation. Given the large number of variables, the scope of this article does not allow for an operationalization of all these variables. Nevertheless, our theoretical model can serve as a practical measurement tool for the recognition of future potentiality and for the identification of areas requiring intervention by the management to achieve it. We have identified 3 additional variables (psychological and social well-being, ability to form national culture and operating as/in a network) that can be considered as outcomes of the functioning of FPOs. Originality/value The concept of a future potential organization goes beyond the profit-maximizing enterprise’s aspiration to operate sustainably and presupposes an assumption that challenges the validity of organizational life-cycle theories and plans organizational operations over a very long-time horizon while allowing for a reinterpretation of the role of organizations in both society and in national culture.