Open strategizing on social media: A process model of emotional mechanisms and outcomes from un-orchestrated participation

Abstract

This study extends the discussion on open strategizing by following the development of unlimited participation in an ex-ante city merger case where participation was not orchestrated. The findings unravel how the aggregation of emotional expressions on social media results in an escalating conflict, and initiates attempts to mitigate grounded in decision-makers’ reflexiveness of social becoming(s). We theorize three emotional mechanisms – acceleration of emotional interaction, reinforcement of hostility as a discursive norm, and emotional empowerment – and outcomes originating from uncontrolled dynamics of inclusion and transparency. As such, we theorize open strategy as emerging organically on social media, and only later becoming deliberately orchestrated by strategists. Our findings have broader implications for understandings of emergent vs. orchestrated inclusion, individual vs. collective transparency, and open and closed decision-making in open strategizing. We also provide directions for managing inclusion to achieve positive outcomes in open strategy.