Super-heroes at your service: navigating moral dilemmas and small business owner identity in online communities

Purpose In addition to business stresses, small business owners (SBOs) face moral conflict and moral identity challenges when providing services during a crisis, such as a natural disaster, war or global health issues. This netnography study explores SBOs as they leverage online service communities to modify practices, sustain services and manage the resulting moral conflict. Design/methodology/approach We employ a netnographic approach, including engagement with a global forum, online surveys and interviews. Data were collected from virtual reality photographers working in residential real estate at the height of the pandemic crisis. Findings The netnographic data reveal that the crisis threatened their businesses and caused these SBOs to question whether their services were essential or merely capitalizing on the crisis, creating moral tension and role conflict. We find that online service communities offer a social alliance and verification that can promote a co-creative process, leading to creative business practices. Additionally, the community interactions inspire SBOs to adopt a moral identity, which assists in bringing normalcy to the delivery of their service while keeping others safe. Originality/value This study utilized netnography innovatively, including incorporating open-ended surveys and broad-reaching member checks. This yielded insights during a time-bound crisis context within an online service community. Additionally, using social identity and organizational identity theories, we introduce the concept of SBO identity and investigate the owners’ journey through early crisis management.