It really depends on who's setting the tone. If it's an owner or manager taking an active interest, I think your observation is true.
> Maybe places like NASA JPL or Apple manage to float above the minimum because of a really unified and powerful culture, but outside of that I'm thinking it's more or less universal. e.g. the 737 MAX debacle illustrates Boeing's stochastic search for the lower bound of technical rigor when it comes to flight control software quality.
IIRC, Boeing has made a years-long effort to cripple their unionized engineering workforce. I don't remember exactly where I read this, but for a long time they had a very effective, rigorous organization, but management (from McDonnell Douglas. IIRC) make a lot of changes that messed it up.
I think it's very safe to assume the level of technical rigor in a given undertaking just falls to the minimum required unless there's a very strong force keeping it in a higher state. Maybe places like NASA JPL or Apple manage to float above the minimum because of a really unified and powerful culture, but outside of that I'm thinking it's more or less universal. e.g. the 737 MAX debacle illustrates Boeing's stochastic search for the lower bound of technical rigor when it comes to flight control software quality.