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(e.g., Kerzner & McIsaac, 2006); however, alternative types of depiction of maturity—such as the spider web-diagram (e.g., Gareis, 2002)—foster an understanding of maturity as an organizational fingerprint, as something individual, respectively. Another empirical way of studying project management maturity that adopts this kind of understanding of maturity would be to focus on the actual practice of project managers and to focus on what they are doing and why they are doing things this way (Blomquist, Hällgren, Nilsson, & Söderholm, 2010, for this approach in general, and Mullaly, 2014, for the connection to maturity research in particular).
In terms of research methodology, case studies including, for example, observations, or action research studies could help to identify and understand reciprocal influences of individual behavior on the one side and the behavior of support institutions on the organizational level (e.g., PMOs; the way they set standards and provide support to project staff and so forth) on the other side. Furthermore, biographical interviews could be an interesting means to studying the roles of experience and patterns of learning in this regard. Starting from an initial maturity assessment, it might be analyzed where the members of the organization allocate potentials for enhancing the organization’s maturity and what kind of reasons they give for their argumentation.