The Psychology of Tipping: Scientific Insights for Services Customers, Workers, and Managers - Paperback

by Michael Lynn (Author)

Consumers around the world often give voluntary sums of money (called tips) to service providers after those workers have served them. There are no good measures of how much is tipped worldwide, but total tips in the US food and beverage industry alone are estimated to exceed $45 billion a year. Thus, tips represent more than small change and their salience and importance have grown in recent years with the advent of digital tipping, which has expanded both the number and types of services asking for tips and the size of tips they are asking for. Academic psychologists and other scholars have studied this topic for 50 years, but that information is locked away in academic journals and writing that is not easily accessible to the general public. This book brings that work together, along with new previously unpublished analyses, in readable prose that shares what we have learned about the topic - including why people tip, who are the best and worst tippers, why we tip some occupations and not others, why tipping norms vary across countries, and what factors influence the size of tips consumers leave. The insights revealed will benefit consumers struggling to navigate the complex and evolving expectations placed on them, tipped workers seeking to increase their incomes, managers of tipped workers interested in improving employee morale and customer satisfaction, and academics interested in further advancing our understanding of this fascinating behavior.

Back Jacket

Consumers around the world often give voluntary sums of money (called tips) to service providers after those workers have served them. There are no good measures of how much is tipped worldwide, but total tips in the US food and beverage industry alone are estimated to exceed $45 billion a year. Thus, tips represent more than small change and their salience and importance have grown in recent years with the advent of digital tipping, which has expanded both the number and types of services asking for tips and the size of tips they are asking for. Academic psychologists and other scholars have studied this topic for 50 years, but that information is locked away in academic journals and writing that is not easily accessible to the general public. This book brings that work together, along with new previously unpublished analyses, in readable prose that shares what we have learned about the topic - including why people tip, who are the best and worst tippers, why we tip some occupations and not others, why tipping norms vary across countries, and what factors influence the size of tips consumers leave. The insights revealed will benefit consumers struggling to navigate the complex and evolving expectations placed on them, tipped workers seeking to increase their incomes, managers of tipped workers interested in improving employee morale and customer satisfaction, and academics interested in further advancing our understanding of this fascinating behavior.

Author Biography

Michael Lynn is a professor of services marketing at the Cornell Hotel School. A former busboy, bartender, and waiter, he began studying tipping 40 years ago as a psychology graduate student and has now published over 80 scientific papers on the topic. His research and/or opinions on tipping have been covered by numerous media outlets, including the Economist, Financial Times, Forbes, International Herald Tribune, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Freakonomics Radio Podcast, ABC's 20/20, CNN's Money Matters, and NPR's All Things Considered, Planet Money, and Morning Edition.