Motivations for tipping: How they differ across more and less frequently tipped services

Analyses of survey data from U.S consumers found that the average frequency with which an occupation is tipped reliably affects motivations for tipping members of that occupation such that (i) people reporting stronger service/esteem motives for tipping are more likely to tip rarely or occasionally tipped occupations, but not frequently tipped occupations, (ii) people reporting stronger altruistic motives for tipping are more likely to tip all occupations, but especially those that others tip only occasionally, and (iii) people reporting a stronger duty motive for tipping are more likely to tip frequently tipped occupations, but not rarely or occasionally tipped occupations. It also found that people reporting stronger reciprocity motives for tipping are not more likely to tip any occupation other than bartenders, but surprisingly are even less likely than others to tip rarely tipped occupations. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed in along with directions for future research.