The Implications of Tipping for Economics and Management

International Journal of Social Economics, Forthcoming

21 Pages Posted: 16 Jan 2003

See all articles by Ofer H. Azar

Ofer H. Azar

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev - Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management

Date Written: September 2002

Abstract

Tipping is a phenomenon that illustrates the importance of social norms and psychological reasons in motivating economic behavior. People tip because this is the social norm and disobeying norms results in psychological disutility. Tipping is also economically important: in the United States alone, millions of workers derive most of their income from tips, and annual tips amount to dozens of billions of dollars. Tipping is also prevalent in numerous other countries around the globe. While tipping has been studied extensively by psychologists, it received very little attention from economists. To encourage other economists to research this interesting phenomenon, I discuss the implications of tipping for several areas in economics: social economics, behavioral economics, labor economics, and economics of information/management strategy. I provide many ideas for future research both as part of the discussion and in a concluding section.

Keywords: tipping, social-economics, behavioral-economics, social-norms, hospitality-industry, restaurants

JEL Classification: Z13, J30, J00, D19, M00, L00, L80, A12

Suggested Citation

Azar, Ofer H., The Implications of Tipping for Economics and Management (September 2002). International Journal of Social Economics, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=339240 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.339240

Ofer H. Azar (Contact Author)

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev - Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management ( email )

P.O. Box 653
Beer-Sheva, 84105
Israel
+972 8 6472675 (Phone)
+972 8 6477691 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.oferazar.com

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