Social norms are rules of behavior that dictate the interactions with others. It could include simple rules which are being enforced at the basic level such as the hand to extend when greeting or complex rules like that of standing in a queue. Societal norms are usually enforced by non-legal sanctions. Societal norms may also follow complex rules which can be used to enforce a certain norm. Tipping is one of the societal norms that follows a series of complex rules made through non-legal sanctions. This paper will analyze tipping as a societal norm and conduct research to identify the motivation behind tipping.
Description of tipping
A tip is simply a sum of money that has been paid by a customer voluntarily to recognize a service that has been performed to them. It is clearly distinguished from the payment or charge of service that is used after service delivery. Tipping is different from a service charge which is usually a compulsory payment after the delivery of a service. A service charge can be explicitly stated in the bill and would include the percentage of a specific amount that has been added to the price of products that were served.
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The nature of tipping
Tipping is one of the societal norms that follows a series of complex rules made through non-legal sanctions. Non-legal sanctions from tipping could come from the surrounding people that insist when one person violates the social norm of tipping. People may also seek the social approval of others that are around them as well as that of the waiter. In countries that tipping is a social norm, most people tip because they could get embarrassed in case they choose not to do so. Another possible explanation of the societal norm of tipping is that it could be followed by empathy or altruism for the waiter that may be perceived to be poorly paid by the employer but is hardworking.
History of tipping
Tipping can be traced in history to have started in the Middle Ages when masters would choose to give a few coins of appreciation to their servants. Visitors in Tudor England that went to private homes were sometimes expected to give tips to the maids, valets, and footmen that took care of them during their stay. The custom then spread quickly to other parts of Europe. Those that did not tip started finding themselves becoming subject to poor service and even the destruction of property. There were attempts during the early stages of tipping to stop and abolish the norm. For instance, members of the nobility in Scotland decided to abolish tipping. It was marked by servants who protested violently stating that the norm should not be violated.
Wealthy Americans that traveled abroad went to private homes in Europe where they got exposed to the practice. They brought the behavior home with them and started to use tipping to show their knowledge of foreign customs and their affluence. This marked a foundation of the practice of tipping where servants would be tipped. The practice evolved and it included service workers that were situated in commercial enterprises. Tipping had become fully established by in the United States by the 1800s. By the year 1895, the average tip of a waiter in the United States was 10%. This was higher than the average tip for a waiter in Europe. However, some Americans hated tipping and some formed movements against it. However, the norm continued and it is more pervasive in the United States compared to any other country in the world.
Cultural norm
Tipping is a cultural norm that is influenced by the perception that waiters do a job that is of low pay. This is because the nature of the work they do requires low human capital. Waiters are perceived to be hard working individuals. The United States has established a culture which states that individuals should be encouraged and rewarded handsomely for their hard work. Tipping also increases business owners lower the wages of employees in the expectation that tips would be a way to ensure that workers can get a supplementary income. Business owners also perceive that people tip based on the quality of service rendered. They thus reduce the pay for their workers in order to have them deliver quality services so that they can be tipped.
Tipping in its cultural context can also be influenced by the income and wealth inequality that has taken place in the United States over the past few decades. The increasing inequality has had a significant effect on increasing the amount that has been tipped. Americans thus try to justify themselves that they care about the welfare of others or that they have a better social status through tipping. The societal norm of tipping has influenced the country’s consumer culture where they perceive that offering tips would improve the quality of service that is rendered.
Research on the topic
Consumers usually give payments of money to workers who have performed service to them. The United States tip industry is huge and is approximately $14 billion a year. The behavior of tipping is notable because they are usually given after services are rendered. Few customers may aspire to pay more for the goods or service which they consume. Consumers are largely known to limit their expenditure on various items. That is why the behavior of tipping is a societal norm that is surprising. What surprises many researchers is whether tipping is simply a societal norm or it is influenced by other factors such as the quality of service or the moods of the customer (Lynn and McCall, 2016). People can tip even when they are in foreign places and there is no one that knows them. They could tip due to the fear of disapproval from the waiter or as a result of an internalization of the social norm.
The social norm of tipping is most prevalent in North America and less prevalent in other continents. The social norm is not quite apparent in continents such as the Middle East, the Pacific, Asia, and Africa. In continents such as Asia or the Pacific, tipping could even be regarded as an insult because it follows the relationship of a master-servant (Margaliotth, 2016). Europe and South America usually have many hotels and restaurants add a service charge which they are expected to bill customers and no one is expected to add a tip on top. The service charge is different from a tip because it is a compulsory payment. North America is mostly known for highly adopting tipping. It could be as a result of the unique aspects of the culture in the United States that has slowly evolved over time.
Tipping is a voluntary act and individuals generally volunteer to pay the extra amount to individuals for the service that has been delivered. Many researchers have tried to explain the behavior of tipping by considering traditional economics which indicates that people usually act out of self-interest (Geng and Chen,2018). However, the behavior of tipping does not mean that it is an investment for the future of good service because people could tip in restaurants which they rarely visit. The behavior of tipping can thus be viewed based on social norms. Tipping can be regarded as a social attitude with people tipping in order to gain the approval or disapproval of what ought to be done and what should not be done.
Violation of the norm
There are countries where tipping is not the norm. In these places, the service component is a part of the dining experience just like the food which has been included in the meal. Tipping would appear to be bizarre and can only be compared to the going to the kitchen at the end of a meal and paying the chef for their efforts. Countries that do not tip do so on the basis and the belief that waiters are well paid and do not need to rely on the genesis of customers in order to earn a living.
There is no legal sanction that could occur as a result of a violation of the norm and someone chooses not to leave a tip. Nothing will be done even if it has been in the check that the service is not included. The restaurant or the owner cannot sue an individual for not providing a tip. People equally tip in foreign restaurants just like they tip in local ones. This shows that people do not tip for any return but do so because it is a social norm.
Research question
Tipping has been largely attributed to being caused by various motivations. One of the motivations is that it is mainly caused and influenced by societal standards. The social norm theory suggests that people tip in order to satisfy societal standards. Social disapproval and approval is a key element when enforcing some of the standards. Equity theory has also been linked to the behavior of tipping. According to the theory, the outputs of services are usually expected to be matched by an equal remuneration by the person receiving the service. This implies that tipping would be affected by the quality of service.
The research question for the study is thus: Is the motivation for tipping based on a societal norm or on the quality of service?
Hypothesis
The first hypothesis for the study is: The motivation of tipping will construct itself present based on the societal norm. The hypothesis was based on the fact that tipping has been widely regarded as a societal norm. People are thus pressured by the society to feel tipped or they could be looked down upon in case they choose not to tip.
The second hypothesis for the study is: Actual service delivery does not play a huge role to consumers in influencing whether they tip or not . This hypothesis was formed by the increasing statements that regardless of the service offered, most individuals would tip as a result of the social pressure of conforming.
The third hypothesis for the study is: Consumers will continue to tip whether they have received good service or bad service . The hypothesis was created to determine the effect of a good service and a bad service on tipping. Identifying the difference should provide a better understanding of whether the act of tipping can be affected directly by the quality of service.
Procedure
The study collected secondary data on surveys carried out to understand the motivations of tipping. The data was analyzed and the conclusions were drawn. The study obtained raw data from a published study regarding the motivations of tipping. The study was carried out among students in a United States University through a series of focus groups, one-to-one expert interviews, and a thirty-two item questionnaire to identify the motivations of various consumers on tipping. The survey carried out included 1000 surveys that were distributed and 831 responses were received and analyzed. The response rate from the secondary data was at 83% (Whaley and O’Neill, 2011). The questionnaire mainly sought to measure the motivation of tipping among students.
The study also conducted research on various publications in the area of tipping. One of the studies was carried out by Lynn and McCall (2016) and involved a meta-analytic review on some of the predictors of tipping on restaurants. The study involved a meta-analysis of 22 published and unpublished studies that examined the factors that influenced tipping. The research conducted on the publication that expounded on tipping in different countries. The study was carried out by Margalioth (2011) who examined the motivations of tipping in the United States and compared it to that of other countries.
Data
The data was collected from the respondents noted that 98% of the individuals noted that they frequently tipped. Only 4 respondents (0.5%) indicated flatly that they did not tip. The individuals were then asked on who they perceived their tipping behavior as a norm. 41.5% of the respondents noted that their behavior was more of a norm while 27.5% noted that tipping was not really a norm to them. The study then asked whether they tipped for the excellence of service and the number rose to 34.8% of the respondents who noted that they tipped as a result of the excellence of service offered. Another 58.2% responded that they did not tip based on the quality of service offered.
The secondary data on the analysis of various studies of publications showed that a large body of research confirms that tipping is mainly as a result of several factors ranked as social expectations, server friendliness, customer mood, and server attractiveness. The data of the comparison of tipping between the United States and other countries also revealed that tipping as a societal norm that has been fabricated into the culture and society of the United States. The study revealed that the popularity of tipping in the United States is five times more than any other country. The study revealed that the reason why other countries did not tip as much is that they had found ways to eradicate it and did not regard it as a social norm.
The three hypotheses were analyzed based on the findings from the data. Hypothesis one was proved to be true by the three different areas of research. It can be shown that it is true that motivation of tipping has constructed itself in the United States as a social norm. The study from various publications showed that tipping is a societal norm that has especially found itself established as a culture in the United States. Hypothesis two was verified as correct because actual service delivery did not influence the tipping behavior of the customer. The larger influence was as a societal norm where 41.4% of the respondents noted that they tipped as a societal norm while 34.8% noted that they tipped as a result of the quality of service. Hypothesis three was identified as true because a huge percent of 58.2% noted that they would tip even when they were not satisfied with the nature of service offered.
Conclusion
The research question was aimed at identifying whether tipping is motivated as a social norm or it is influenced by the quality of service rendered. An overwhelmingly huge amount of research suggests that tipping is first as a result of a social norm and not as a result of the quality of service rendered. The results from the studies point to several motivations for the tipping behavior. It is clear that tipping is mainly as a result of a social motivation as people comply with the norms and pressures presented by society.
References
Geng, R., & Chen, X. (2018). Economics of ‘Tipping’Button in Social Media: An Empirical Analysis of Content Monetization. Economics , 6 , 26-2018.
Lynn, M., & McCall, M. (2016). Beyond gratitude and gratuity: A meta-analytic review of the predictors of restaurant tipping.
Margalioth, Y. (2010). The social norm of tipping, its correlation with inequality, and differences in tax treatment across countries. Theoretical Inquiries in Law , 11 (2), 561-588.
Whaley, J. E., & O'Neill, M. A. (2011). To tip or not to tip? An exploratory study of the motivations driving consumer tipping behavior.
