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The Social Norm of Tipping: A Review

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Author Info
Ofer H. Azar (Northwestern University)

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Abstract

Tipping is an important phenomenon, both because of its economic magnitude and because of the insights it suggests about economic behavior in general. It is closely related to several areas in economics, including labor economics, industrial organization, social economics, behavioral economics, and public policy. Unfortunately, no published article integrates and synthesizes the research on tipping. This makes it hard for scholars to get an overview of this research area without reading dozens of articles. The purpose of this article is therefore to give the readers the state of the art in the research on tipping. In addition to summarizing and synthesizing the previous research on tipping, the article includes many original ideas and suggests topics for future research.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by EconWPA in its series Others with number 0309006.

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Date of creation: 04 Sep 2003
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Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpot:0309006

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Web page: http://129.3.20.41

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Related research
Keywords: Tipping; Social norms; Consumer behavior;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General
A12 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines
J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Ofer H. Azar, 2003. "Tipping: The Economics of a Social Norm," Labor and Demography 0309002, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  2. 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. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Ofer H. Azar, 2003. "Optimal Monitoring with External Incentives: The Case of Tipping," Industrial Organization 0312004, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Ofer H. Azar, 2003. "The implications of tipping for economics and management," Others 0309002, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  5. Ruffle, Bradley J., 1999. "Gift giving with emotions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 399-420, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Lynn, Michael & McCall, Michael, 2000. "Gratitude and gratuity: a meta-analysis of research on the service-tipping relationship," The Journal of Socio-Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 203-214. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Bodvarsson, Orn B. & Gibson, William A., 1994. "Gratuities and customer appraisal of service: Evidence from Minesota restaurants," The Journal of Socio-Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 287-302. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. 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 476-78, June.
  9. Conlin, Michael & Lynn, Michael & O'Donoghue, Ted, 2003. "The norm of restaurant tipping," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 297-321, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Kahneman, Daniel & Knetsch, Jack L & Thaler, Richard, 1986. "Fairness as a Constraint on Profit Seeking: Entitlements in the Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(4), pages 728-41, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Ofer H. Azar, 2005. "The Social Norm of Tipping: Does it Improve Social Welfare?," Others 0503013, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  12. Lynn, Michael & Zinkhan, George M & Harris, Judy, 1993. " Consumer Tipping: A Cross-Country Study," Journal of Consumer Research: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(3), pages 478-88, December.
  13. Ofer H. Azar, 2003. "What sustains social norms and how they evolve? The case of tipping," Others 0309001, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  14. Ruffle, Bradley J., 1998. "More Is Better, But Fair Is Fair: Tipping in Dictator and Ultimatum Games," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 247-265, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Ofer Azar, 2008. "Strategic Behavior and Social Norms in Tipped Service Industries," Topics in Economic Analysis & Policy, Berkeley Electronic Press, vol. 8(1), pages 1778-1778. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Ofer H. Azar, 2003. "What sustains social norms and how they evolve? The case of tipping," Others 0309001, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Azar, Ofer H., 2005. "Incentives and Service Quality in the Restaurant Industry: The Tipping – Service Puzzle," MPRA Paper 4457, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2006. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Azar, Ofer H., 2006. "Tipping, firm strategy, and industrial organization," MPRA Paper 4485, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  5. Azar, Ofer H. & Tobol, Yossi, 2006. "Tipping as a strategic investment in service quality: An optimal-control analysis of repeated interactions in the service industry," MPRA Paper 4393, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2007. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Ofer H. Azar, 2003. "The History of Tipping - From Sixteenth-Century England to United States in the 1910s," Economic History 0309001, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Ofer H. Azar, 2003. "The implications of tipping for economics and management," Others 0309002, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
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This page was last updated on 2009-11-6.

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