The effect of touch on tipping: an evaluation in a French bar

A touch of gastronomy

“…The results revealed that both male and female customers tipped significantly more after having been touched in both of the touching conditions than in the no touch condition. Subsequently, Stephen and Zweigenhaft [109] replicated this basic phenomenon, showing that touching female diners led to a 4% increase in the tips received, as compared to touching male diners, or not touching anyone at all [see also [110]. Meanwhile, researchers have also demonstrated that drinkers tend to consume more food if touched by a waitress [111].…”

TaSST

“…However, research has shown that touch is important in the forming of affiliative behavior and the maintenance of social bonds [10]. Furthermore, touch can increase compliance to requests [3], can have stress reducing effects [2], and can be used to communicate discrete emotions [6]. It is important to note here that the interpretation of touch is highly context dependent, is almost never unimodal, and is always bidirectional [7].…”

Extending the reach of social touch through haptic technology

“…Well the answer might be that the waiter briefly touched your shoulder, without you noticing, when he handed you the bill. In a series of studies it has been found that being touched by a waiter in a restaurant can increase chances of giving a higher tip [114,207,251], and can increase the likelihood that restaurant guests follow menu-item suggestions by the waiter [208]. Some of these effects have been found to occur whether the restaurant guest was aware of being touched or not [204].…”

“…114,207,251]. This means that the people participating in the studies were generally just going about their business and were unaware that they were taking part in the study.…”