Geodemographic Differences in Knowledge About the Restaurant Tipping Norm

Abstract

A national telephone survey indicated that knowledge about the restaurant tipping norm is greater among people who are White, in their 40 s to 60 s, highly educated, wealthy, living in metropolitan areas, and living in the Northeast than among their counterparts. These findings support the idea that differential familiarity with tipping norms underlies geodemographic differences in tipping behavior. An educational campaign promoting the 15-20% restaurant tipping norm is needed to reduce geodemographic differences in tipping and to increase the willingness of waiters and waitresses to serve all customers equally.

Race Differences in Tipping: Testing the Role of Norm Familiarity

“…Both motives may be weaker among blacks than among whites. Blacks are less likely than whites to know the norm (Lynn 2004b(Lynn , 2006 and, thus, are less able to pass it on to their children or friends. As a consequence, blacks are probably more likely to learn tipping norms from strangers.…”

Tipping Motivations and Behavior in the U.S. and Israel

“…4 4 Lynn (2004a, 2006a; Lynn & Thomas‐Haysbert, 2003) has conducted studies that have explored differences between populations with respect to tipping. …”

Black–white differences in beliefs about the U.S. restaurant tipping norm: Moderated by socio-economic status?

“…For example, previous research has found that Blacks in the United States tip less than Whites in large part because they have different perceptions and beliefs about the customary or normative tip amount (Lynn, 2004(Lynn, , 2006b(Lynn, , 2011. In fact, approximately 70 percent of White adults in the U.S. believe that it is customary or normative to tip 15-20 percent of the bill size in restaurants while only about 35 percent of Black adults in the U.S. hold this belief (Lynn, 2004(Lynn, , 2006b.…”

“…Researchers have convincingly demonstrated that SES is only a weak and partial mediator of race differences in beliefs about tipping norms (Lynn, 2004(Lynn, , 2006b), but no one has examined if and how SES might interact with race to affect beliefs about tipping norms. This gap in the literature deserves investigation because a long standing theory is that the more middle-class or bourgeois Blacks are, the weaker their ethnic or race commitment (Frazier, 1957).…”

“…This expectation is tested in a re-analysis of two studies by Lynn (2004Lynn ( , 2006b. Lynn (2004Lynn ( , 2006b commissioned TNS Intersearch to conduct two national telephone surveys on knowledge about the 15-20% restaurant tipping norm. He found that Blacks were much less familiar with the norm than were Whites even after controlling for indicators of socio-economic status such as education and income.…”