With more openness, more practices, and more stakeholders involved, open organizing has become more complex to manage. This article explores open strategy and its closely related concept of stakeholder engagement by further exploring the dynamics of openness in open strategy initiatives through a qualitative meta-synthesis of 25 peer-reviewed journal articles. First, the theory on open strategy is consolidated by developing a reading of open strategy processes and what complexities arise from them. Second, open strategy constructs are extended by exploring more deeply how organizations can manage the complexities, thereby bringing forward five constructs (Encouraging procedural openness, organizing group dynamics, developing process guidance, facilitating accessibility, and building legitimacy and buy-in). Finally, the notions of structure, neutrality, and purpose are proposed as an answer to why organizations struggle with openness and, thus, extend theorization on open strategy whilst bridging these findings with stakeholder engagement literature. Further, the role of facilitators and facilitation is discussed as being a means to manage the identified complexities.
