The underlying dimensions of tipping behavior: An exploration, confirmation, and predictive model

Service gratuities and tipping: A motivational framework

“…Clearly, cognitive and social processes also underlie tipping, but they operate on and/or through motives and their effects cannot be fully understood apart from some motivation for tipping. Indeed a perusal of the tipping literature reveals a number of different motives that have been hypothesized to underlie this behavior (see Azar, 2010;Becker, Bradley, & Zantow, 2012;Lynn, 2009;Lynn & Grassman, 1990;Saunders & Lynn, 2010). Selectively drawing on this literature, I argue that tipping is primarily driven by motivations to: (1) help servers, (2) reward service, (3) gain or maintain future preferential service, (4) gain or maintain social esteem (approval, status, and/or liking), and (5) fulfill felt obligations and duties.…”

Serving Beers, Turning Tricks and Keeping the Change

“…In his review of recent empirical and theoretical literature on tipping, Azar (2007) cites low sensitivity to service quality, evidence that frequent customers do not tip more than infrequent customers and that receiving good service is not a major reason reported for tipping as some of the factors behind the weak relationship between service quality and tipping. In a different review of the literature, Becker, et al, (2012) agree with other authors and conclude that the general perception is that tipping does not conform to the neoclassical model of selfish profit maximization.…”

“…In their investigation into the motivations for tipping , Becker, et al, (2012) review prior research on the subject of tipping behaviours. According to these authors, the extant body of literature on tipping can be classified into two groups.…”

“…To understand how this idea has come about, it is important to note that the interest on tipping has, for many years, predominantly centred on testing other explanatory frameworks. Authors have tested the relationship of customer tipping behaviours to bill size (Lynn, et al, 2012), service quality (Lynn and Kwortnik 2015;Becker, et al, 2012; Wang 2013) and/or by feelings of reciprocity (Becker, et al, 2012;Lynn 2016;Lynn 2018).…”

“…Economic-Efficiency, according to Azar (2007) and Brewster (2013) hinges on the possibility that the tip is awarded on the basis of performance, a sort of voluntary price in exchange for good service (Lynn and Wang 2013: 63), and that this has a positive effect on the server to deliver better service. This is perhaps the reason why the evidence in this regard is inconclusive and empirical tests of this theory have only achieved weak indicators of the relationship (Azar 2007;Becker, et al, 2012;Lynn, et al, 2012: 91). In his review of recent empirical and theoretical literature on tipping, Azar (2007) cites low sensitivity to service quality, evidence that frequent customers do not tip more than infrequent customers and that receiving good service is not a major reason reported for tipping as some of the factors behind the weak relationship between service quality and tipping.…”