Does Weather Actually Affect Tipping? An Empirical Analysis of Time Series Data
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 2012, 42 (3): 702-716
15 Pages Posted: 29 May 2010 Last revised: 3 Jun 2013
Date Written: May 28, 2010
Abstract
Prior literature has found evidence that pleasant weather (namely, sunshine) leads to higher tipping rates, presumably because it improves the moods of either servers or patrons. However, studies examining the relationship between pleasant weather and tipping behavior have involved relatively small samples of participants and daily observations. In addition, only one such study (Cunningham, 1979) used actual weather data to examine this relationship. We address these shortcomings by testing empirically the weather–tipping relationship on 2 years of actual sales data from a busy restaurant. We found no statistically significant relationship between sunshine and tipping. Tipping appears to be better explained as an institutional standard or norm, rather than as a prosocial behavior that can be modulated by weather-induced changes in mood.
Keywords: Tipping, Weather, Prosocial, Helping, Sunshine
JEL Classification: D12, D64, M31, J30
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?
Recommended Papers
-
Good Day Sunshine: Stock Returns and the Weather
By David Hirshleifer and Tyler Shumway
-
Winter Blues: A Sad Stock Market Cycle
By Mark J. Kamstra, Lisa A. Kramer, ...
-
The Halloween Indicator, 'Sell in May and Go Away': Another Puzzle
By Ben Jacobsen and Sven Bouman
-
Losing Sleep at the Market: The Daylight-Savings Anomaly
By Mark J. Kamstra, Lisa A. Kramer, ...
-
Are Investors Moonstruck? - Lunar Phases and Stock Returns
By Lu Zheng, Kathy Yuan, ...
-
Lunar Cycle Effects in Stock Returns
By Ilia D. Dichev and Troy D. Janes
-
Rain or Shine: Where is the Weather Effect?
By Ning Zhu and William N. Goetzmann
-
Rain or Shine: Where is the Weather Effect?
By Ning Zhu and William N. Goetzmann
-
By Ben Jacobsen and Wessel Marquering