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Why do diners tip: rule-of-thumb or valuation of service?

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  • Orn Bodvarsson
  • William Luksetich
  • Sherry McDermott

Abstract

When diners decide how much to tip, is the decision based on social convention or on conscientious appraisal of server productivity? Previous researchers in economics and social psychology are generally inconclusive on this question. A common finding in the literature is that tip size and service quality are unrelated, a result usually obtained from OLS regressions. OLS is only appropriate if service quality is exogenous. It is argued that service quality is very likely endogenous in any regression of tip size; good quality encourages good tips, but server expectations of good tips encourage good quality. This simultaneity is accounted for by jointly estimating percentage tips and customer rankings of service quality on a sample of 247 diners in a Central Minnesota restaurant. Included are explanatory variables consistent with both the social psychology and economic views of tipping. In contrast to previous studies, it is found that service quality significantly affects tip size and when servers expect higher tips, customers rank service quality higher. Also it is found that patronage frequency and coupon redemption have no effect on percentage tips, but server gender influences quality significantly. It is concluded that the results are generally supportive of an economic hypothesis of tipping.

Suggested Citation

  • Orn Bodvarsson & William Luksetich & Sherry McDermott, 2003. "Why do diners tip: rule-of-thumb or valuation of service?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(15), pages 1659-1665.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:35:y:2003:i:15:p:1659-1665
    DOI: 10.1080/0003684032000126799
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bodvarsson, Orn B. & Gibson, William A., 1994. "Gratuities and customer appraisal of service: Evidence from Minesota restaurants," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 287-302.
    2. Frank, Robert H, 1987. "If Homo Economicus Could Choose His Own Utility Function, Would He Want One with a Conscience?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(4), pages 593-604, September.
    3. Lynn, Michael & Grassman, Andrea, 1990. "Restaurant tipping: an examination of three 'rational' explanations," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 169-181, June.
    4. Jacob, Nancy L & Page, Alfred N, 1980. "Production, Information Costs, and Economic Organization: The Buyer Monitoring Case," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(3), pages 476-478, June.
    5. Lynn, Michael & Zinkhan, George M & Harris, Judy, 1993. "Consumer Tipping: A Cross-Country Study," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 20(3), pages 478-488, December.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Peter Kerr & Bruce Domazlicky, 2009. "Tipping and service quality: results from a large database," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(15), pages 1505-1510.
    2. Azar, Ofer H., 2009. "Tipping motivations and behavior in the US and Israel," MPRA Paper 20304, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Michael Lynn, 2004. "Restaurant tips and service quality: a commentary of Bodvarsson, Luksetich and McDermott (2003)," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(15), pages 975-978.
    4. Matt Parrett, 2006. "An Analysis of the Determinants of Tipping Behavior: A Laboratory Experiment and Evidence from Restaurant Tipping," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 73(2), pages 489-514, October.
    5. Melville Saayman & Andrea Saayman, 2015. "Understanding Tipping Behaviour — An Economic Perspective," Tourism Economics, , vol. 21(2), pages 247-265, April.
    6. Ofer Azar, 2009. "Incentives and service quality in the restaurant industry: the tipping-service puzzle," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(15), pages 1917-1927.
    7. ChihChien Chen & YangSu Chen, 2017. "The impacts of different types of cuisines and restaurants on gratuities," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 16(2), pages 154-173, April.
    8. Elif Aydin, Asli & Acun, Yüksel, 2019. "An investigation of tipping behavior as a major component in service economy: The case of taxi tipping," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 114-120.
    9. Saunders, Stephen G. & Lynn, Michael, 2010. "Why tip? An empirical test of motivations for tipping car guards," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 106-113, February.
    10. Caitlin Knowles Myers & Marcus Bellows & Hiba Fakhoury & Douglas Hale & Alexander Hall & Kaitlin Ofman, 2010. "Ladies first? A field study of discrimination in coffee shops," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(14), pages 1761-1769.
    11. Őrn Bodvarsson, 2005. "Restaurant tips and service quality: a reply to Lynn," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(6), pages 345-346.
    12. Lamar Pierce & Daniel C. Snow & Andrew McAfee, 2015. "Cleaning House: The Impact of Information Technology Monitoring on Employee Theft and Productivity," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(10), pages 2299-2319, October.
    13. Azar, Ofer H., 2006. "Tipping, firm strategy, and industrial organization," MPRA Paper 4485, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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