Shaping Inclusion and Exclusion: Habitual Responses of Project Managers in Early Stakeholder Engagement

This study explores how project managers in contentious contexts, such as infrastructure projects, shape the inclusion and exclusion of nonmarket stakeholders in early stakeholder engagement. Adopting open strategy theory as a lens, we focus on forms of closure in managerial decision-making. We show that even well-intentioned managers rely on habitual responses—favoring representatives, joint commitment, technical expertise, and internal legitimacy—at the expense of broader inclusion. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analyses, we give meaning and significance to these patterns of exclusion and contribute to a more reflective and socially responsive approach to stakeholder engagement in the project front end.