Service gratuities and tipping: A motivational framework

In many countries around the world, consumers leave voluntary payments of money (called “tips”) to service workers who have served them. Since tips are an expense that consumers are free to avoid, tipping is an anomalous behavior that many economists regard as “irrational” or “mysterious”. In this paper, I present a motivational framework that offers plausible explanations for: (1) why people tip, (2) how tipping norms came into existence and evolve over time, (3) why tipping varies across individuals and situations, (4) why tipping is more common for some occupations than others, and (5) why tipping varies across nations. Many hypotheses generated from this framework are supported by existing research, but many other implications of the framework have yet to be adequately tested. Thus, the framework provides a promising and much needed theoretical guide for future research on a fascinating consumer behavior.     

Why are we more likely to tip some service occupations than others? Theory,evidence, and implications

Ideas about why consumers tip some service occupations more often than others are tested using occupation scores derived from online ratings of 122 service occupations. Results indicate that U.S. consumers are more likely to tip occupations for which (i) workers’ performances can be more easily evaluated by consumers than by managers, (ii) workers provide customized service, (iii) workers’ income, skill and needed judgment are low, and (iv) workers are less happy than customers during the service encounter. Occupations with greater frequency of customer patronage and/or greater likelihood of encountering the same service provider on multiple service occasions are not more likely than other occupations to be tipped. These findings support some and disconfirm other expectations derived from a theory that occupational differences in tipping are attributable to occupation characteristics that more strongly/consistently evoke motives for tipping. They also identify types of services for which counter-normative tipping policies are more or less likely to be successful and suggest sources of resistance that must be overcome if those policies are to succeed.     

The history of tipping—from sixteenth-century England to United States in the 1910s

Tipping is a multi-billion-dollar phenomenon that challenges the traditional assumption of selfish economic agents who have no feelings and do not care about social norms. This article reviews the early history of tipping and offers an economic analysis of different aspects of tipping. Using the historical evidence, it then addresses two major questions about tipping: why do people tip? And does tipping improve service quality? The reasons for tipping changed over the years, but conforming to social norms and avoiding embarrassment were generally the main reasons. Tipping seems to improve service quality; the extent of the improvement varies across occupations.     

Business strategy and the social norm of tipping

Tipping is an important economic phenomenon, involving about $47 billion a year in the US food industry alone, and trillions of dollars across different occupations and countries over the years. Moreover, tipping is a major source of income for millions of workers. This article discusses the implications of tipping for business strategy in the relevant industries. For example, firms can choose to impose a compulsory service charge in lieu of tipping - what are the advantages and disadvantages of doing so? How does tipping change the profit-maximizing level of investing in screening job applicants, training workers, monitoring them, and providing performance-based incentives by the firm? Can industries such as the music industry use tips (i.e., prices being voluntary and determined by the customers) as an alternative business model?     

Tip Work: Examining the Relational Dynamics of Tipping beyond the Service Counter

Tips constitute a growing form of income for roughly three million American workers today. While existing scholarship on tipping focuses on worker‐customer dynamics, it neglects the implications of gratuities beyond the service counter. Drawing on the case of restaurant workers in Los Angeles, this study analyzes tip work, the bundle of social relations and labor experiences framed by tips in commercial settings. I argue that tipping strains relations between subgroups of workers who, despite collectively producing service, are subject to unequal access to tip earnings. Tips thereby shape relations among workers in ways that exacerbate existing organizational and social hierarchies.     

Associations Among Attachment Style,Burnout, and Compassion Fatigue in Health and Human Service Workers: A Systematic Review

Health and human service workers are at risk for developing burnout or compassion fatigue due to the demanding nature of their work. Attachment theory makes specific predictions that may help explain why some workers experience burnout or compassion fatigue and others do not. The purpose of this systematic review is to identify and attempt to explain patterns and inconsistencies in results across studies that have examined the association between adult attachment style and burnout or compassion fatigue. Ten studies representing a diverse range of disciplines within the health and human service sectors were included in the research synthesis. The findings demonstrated consistent results for secure and anxious attachment, suggesting that attachment security is associated with lower levels of burnout, whereas attachment anxiety is associated with higher levels of burnout. Some studies found an association between avoidant attachment and burnout, whereas others did not. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the selection, training, and supervision of health and human service workers.     

Gratitude and gratuity: a meta-analysis of research on the service-tipping relationship

The relationship between tip size and evaluations of the service was assessed in a meta-analysis of seven published and six unpublished studies involving 2547 dining parties at 20 different restaurants. Consistent with theories about equity motivation and the economic functions of tipping, there was a positive and statistically significant relationship between tip size and service evaluations. However, that relationship was much smaller than is generally supposed. The confounding effects of customer mood and patronage frequency as well as the reverse-causality effects of server favoritism toward big tippers were all examined and shown to be insufficient explanations for the correlation between tipping and service evaluations. These findings suggest that tippers are concerned about equitable economic relationships with servers, but that equity effects may be too weak for tip size to serve as a valid measure of server performance or for tipping to serve as an effective incentive for delivering good service.     

Black–White Earnings Gap among Restaurant Servers: A Replication,Extension, and Exploration of Consumer Racial Discrimination in Tipping

There is a rich history of social science research centering on racial inequalities that continue to be observed across various markets (e.g., labor, housing, and credit markets) and social milieus. Existing research on racial discrimination in consumer markets is, however, relatively scarce and that which has been done has disproportionately focused on consumers as the victims of race‐based mistreatment. As such, we know relatively little about how consumers contribute to inequalities in their roles as perpetrators of racial discrimination. In response, in this article, we elaborate on a line of research that is only in its infancy stages of development and yet is ripe with opportunities to advance the literature on consumer racial discrimination and racial earnings inequities among tip‐dependent employees in the United States. Specifically, we analyze data derived from an exit survey of restaurant consumers (N = 394) in an attempt to replicate, extend, and further explore the recently documented effect of service providers’ race on restaurant consumers’ tipping decisions. Our results indicate that both white and black restaurant customers discriminate against black servers by tipping them less than their white co‐workers. Importantly, we find no evidence that this black tip penalty is the result of inter‐racial differences in service skills possessed by black and white servers. We conclude by delineating directions for future research in this neglected but salient area of study.     

Training care managers in risk assessment: Outcomes of an in-service training programme

Despite a recognition that social service workers require training in risk assessment, it would appear that there currently exists minimal information regarding appropriate models for risk assessment to underpin care managers' practice and, as a result, minimal discussion to inform considerations regarding appropriate training in this area. To date, not one study has appeared in the literature specifically examining whether in-service training provided to care managers actually results in changes to their work practices. This study provides results from an evaluation of an in-service training programme in risk assessment and demonstrates that the training had minimal impact on trainee behaviours. A number of reasons are offered as to why the training failed to transfer to practice; chief amongst these being insufficient time to learn the content of the training and factors associated with the specific work environment. Importantly, the particular model of risk assessment taught on the training programme was considered by care managers as far too time consuming and complicated to use, given the demands on their time and heavy workloads. It is suggested that if this particular risk assessment model is to be adopted by care managers, social services departments must ensure that such training is of appropriate duration to enable skills to be learnt, and that workplace contingencies are addressed to facilitate rather than hinder the use of training. These findings are considered to have practical significance for the design of similar short duration training programmes within social services.     

Artificial Intelligence

This article offers a brief introduction to the topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Its intended audience are social service administrators and workers who are not familiar with the concepts of AI. The article briefly discusses: the concept of AI, recent developments in the field, some of the underlying controversies, why AI is important for the delivery of social services, how it can be applied in social service programs and, finally, some of the ethicaland legal issues that arise out of the use of computers in social service agencies.     

TOO LITTLE FEAR CAN KILL YOU. STAYING ALIVE AS A SOCIAL WORKER

This paper provides a psychodynamic exploration of risk assessment of service users who might represent a danger to others and, in particular, to the social workers involved in their care and treatment. Substantive quotations from participants in a qualitative research study enquiring into experiences of fear in social work and counselling are provided and discussed in the light of psychodynamic theory. Fear is seen to be of crucial and life‐enhancing significance while not listening to the ‘survival signals’ transmitted from fear responses is shown to be potentially dangerous, even fatal. The need for workers to locate themselves accurately on the continuum of the depressive/paranoid‐schizoid position is highlighted throughout as is the need for them to appear to disturbed and disturbing service users as whole people rather than part objects. The importance of clearing a space through the fear to think about what is happening between service user and worker is emphasised and the parts played by the eyes and the emotions in this are also considered. The paper concludes with the contention that workers should aim to cultivate an attitude of appropriate fearfulness as this is a helpful albeit complex balance worth striving for.     

Mental Health Workers Negotiating Risk on the Frontline

Abstract

Following deinstitutionalisation and the shift to models of community care, mental health practice has become increasingly focused on managing the risks posed by service users. However, the effects of risk management on workers’ professional identities have not been investigated empirically in Australia. Drawing on in-depth interviews with mental health workers from Victoria, Australia, this paper explores the diverse ways in which these workers adapted the formal technologies of risk management (e.g., the completion of risk assessment screens) to their professional identities. Some workers experienced risk management technologies as constraining their interventions with clients, while others saw these technologies as providing opportunities to strengthen and enhance their professional skills. Pondering these differences, the author speculates on the emergence of a new form of professional identity in the broader context of contemporary community mental health care.     

Economic Motivations and Moral Controls Regulating Discrimination against Black and Hispanic Diners

Racial discrimination in restaurant service is often depicted as an economically rational response to servers' concerns about perceived inadequate tipping by black and/or Hispanic customers. However, drawing from sociological and criminological theories that critique the limits of economic models of human behavior, we argue that discrimination against black and Hispanic diners may be inhibited by servers' moral concerns about discrimination. Further, such moral restraints might also buffer the influence of economic motives regulating discrimination. Ordinal logistic regression models of survey data collected from a sample of U.S. restaurant servers (N = 872) are employed to assess whether race‐based perceptions of customers' tipping behaviors and moral restraints interact to predict the prevalence and frequency of servers' self‐reported discrimination against black and Hispanic diners. Results suggest that servers' economically motivated, race‐based beliefs about the tipping practices of black, Hispanic, and white customers are associated with self‐reported discrimination. Specifically, we find that servers who harbor negative attitudes toward the tipping practices of customers of color (i.e., blacks or Hispanics) or positive attitudes toward whites' tipping behaviors are also more likely to report withholding effort from their black and Hispanic patrons. However, servers with strong moral restraints are more likely to refrain from discriminating against black and Hispanic diners, or do so less frequently, despite expressing concerns about inadequate tipping practices among black and Hispanic vis‐à‐vis white clientele.     

Beards and Bloomers: Flight Attendants,Grievances and Embodied Labour in the Canadian Airline Industry, 1960s–1980s

This paper examines union grievances dealing with the body, appearance and demeanour fought by the Canadian Air Line Flight Attendants Association, on behalf of its female and male members over a 30‐year period. Taking a historical, materialist‐feminist approach, we examine how workers used the grievance system to resist regulations they believed contradicted their right to dignified labour. We ask how and why bodily regulation differed for men and women, and how this changed over time, as the union merged its male and female job occupations. Using arbitrated grievances, union records and discussion of these issues in the mass media, we show how both feminism and service union activism encouraged flight attendant resistance to airlines’ efforts to regulate the appropriate body and attire for male and female workers. The use of labour law offered workers some respite from regulation, but did not facilitate fundamental questions about the power of management to ‘dress’ its workers.     

Client satisfaction with live-in and live-out home care workers in Israel

In an era of globalization where the migration of longterm care workers is common, foreign live-in home care workers can compensate for the unavailability of family members and, perhaps, even substitute for institutional care in the provision of long-term care services to disabled older persons. This study examines differences in home care satisfaction between disabled older persons in Israel with "live-in" home care workers and those with "live-out" workers, and explores some differences in sociodemographic and personal characteristics between these two groups. Face-to-face interviews were held with a random sample of 93 older persons in Beer-Sheva. Older persons with live-in home care workers were more satisfied with their home care service than those with live-out workers. Those with live-in workers were more severely disabled, tended not to have any children living in close proximity, although an adult child was available as an informal caregiver. Communication difficulties between the elderly persons and their home care workers were found not to affect negatively the satisfaction with the service.     

The child welfare service's assessments in custody cases that involve minors

The percentage of breakdowns in marriages, cohabitations and civil partnerships is increasing in the Western world, resulting in questions of child custody. In Norway and other Western countries, there is little knowledge of the support system's work in child custody cases. This article focuses on the assessments Norwegian child welfare service employees conduct in 37 cases about child custody. We explain why they sometimes conduct investigations of reports and at other times do not.

‘Street-level bureaucracy’ is the theoretical reference framework for interpreting the interviews. Assessments and decisions of the child welfare service in custody cases vary from one service to another. It is relatively difficult to predict whether the notifications will be investigated or dropped. Decisions are the result of a jigsaw puzzle of risk assessment, interpretations of legislation, cooperative procedures and an understanding of the county social welfare board. Notifications concerning violence and notifications from family counselling offices stand out since generally they result in investigations.

Child welfare services' handling of notifications regarding custody questions is challenging as these cases are in the grey zone between the Children Act and the Child Welfare Act. Child welfare workers want clearer guidelines for the cases on which they are to work. However, new rules cannot replace the professional and ethical assessments the child welfare service workers have to make in each individual case.     

Client Satisfaction with Live-In and Live-Out Home Care Workers in Israel

Abstract

In an era of globalization where the migration of long-term care workers is common, foreign live-in home care workers can compensate for the unavailability of family members and, perhaps, even substitute for institutional care in the provision of long-term care services to disabled older persons.

This study examines differences in home care satisfaction between disabled older persons in Israel with “live-in” home care workers and those with “live-out” workers, and explores some differences in socio-demographic and personal characteristics between these two groups. Face-to-face interviews were held with a random sample of 93 older persons in Beer-Sheva.

Older persons with live-in home care workers were more satisfied with their home care service than those with live-out workers. Those with live-in workers were more severely disabled, tended not to have any children living in close proximity, although an adult child was available as an informal caregiver. Communication difficulties between the elderly persons and their home care workers were found not to affect negatively the satisfaction with the service.     

The Social Worker as Transdisciplinary Professional: A Reflective Account

The transdisciplinary key worker model requires early childhood intervention professionals to make radical adjustment in their respective scopes of knowledge and practice. Focused on the author’s brief experience in a key worker role, the article highlights challenges and contradictions that arise when health and welfare professionals are expected not only to exchange knowledge, skills, and expertise, but also to perform each other’s work. Two contextual, reflective accounts of the reasons why social workers should be cautious in task transfers in transdisciplinary teams are given. The article renews support for social workers playing professionally appropriate roles in early childhood intervention teams in ways that can protect best service delivery to children with disability and their families.     

Alerte et catastrophe : le cas de la tempête de 1999, un risque scélérat

There is a recurrent paradox: why do catastrophes always seem to be “anticipated” ex post but never ex ante? This study of the warnings issued prior to the last major natural catastrophe experienced by France—the storm of 27 December 1999—focuses on the organizational factors accounting for the surprise occasioned by this event. Even though the French weather bureau had forecasted the storm, why did civil defense workers declare that the scale of the event came as a surprise to them? A multilevel qualitative analysis of the operation of the interorganizational weather-warning system shows that a combination of structural, contextual and individual factors turned the warnings into routine messages. The 1999 storm serves to describe an ideal type of a particular risk, namely the treacherous risk, which is clearly announced but disregarded because it seems so familiar.     

Inclusion or Exploitation? Irish Women Enter the Labour Force

This article seeks to examine the division of women into committed and uncommitted workers by gender theorists. The article uses interview data from a study of women in service sector employment in Ireland to ask how (or even if) women actually make the decision to enter the workforce and why they stay there. Moreover, we explore how some Irish women themselves experience these changes.