This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Lynn, M. Articles by Graves, J. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Tipping: an Incentive/Reward for Service?

Cornell University

Jeffrey Graves

University of Houston

Tipping is an interesting, pervasive, and under researched form of consumer behavior. Tips are supposed to be an incentive/reward for good service. However, tipping is a complex behavior motivated by the desires to conform with social norms, compensate for poor service wages, display power/status, avoid the servers' envy and ill will, and express interpersonal attraction. It is possible that these othermotives for tipping undermine its role as an incentive/reward. This possibility was examined in two original studies of restaurant tipping. The studies found that tipping is related to consumers' evaluations of service and the dining experience, but that these relationships are weak. This result suggests that tipping is, in part, a reward forgood service, but that it may not provide a sufficient incentive for the delivery of good service.

Key Words: Key Words: restaurant tipping • employee motivation • service quality

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?