Tip or No Tip? That is the Question

38 Pages Posted: 6 Feb 2023

See all articles by Qi Yan

Qi Yan

University of California, Irvine

L. Robin Keller

University of California, Irvine - Operations and Decision Technologies (ODT)

Cristina del Campo

Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)

Abstract

Online streaming brings in huge profits to the hosting platforms with the majority coming from tips given by the viewers. This research studied whether the split of tips between the streamer and the platform affects viewers’ willingness to tip, under the influences of income, incentives, winning probability and gender. An online survey was conducted, with 895 participants in China randomly assigned to one of two versions of the questions. In the Split version, the platform splits the tips with the streamer with an unknown exact ratio. In the All version, the streamers take all. The results of hypothesis testing over different scenarios highlight that contracts between streamers and platforms with tip sharing may damper the total tips streamers get. Female viewers are more generous in tipping. For all respondents, tip amounts increase with the income level, size of the incentive and probability of winning, but they are indifferent to the type of reward.

Keywords: Tips, Live/Online Streaming, Money Giving, Consumer Behavior, Virtual Gifts, Rewards

Suggested Citation

Yan, Qi and Keller, L. Robin and del Campo, Cristina, Tip or No Tip? That is the Question. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4350150 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4350150

Qi Yan (Contact Author)

University of California, Irvine ( email )

Division of Nephrology, University of California I
101 City Drive South, City Tower, Suite 400-ZOT;40
Orange, CA California 92868-3217
United States

L. Robin Keller

University of California, Irvine - Operations and Decision Technologies (ODT) ( email )

Irvine, CA 92697
United States

Cristina Del Campo

Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) ( email )

Spain

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
77
Abstract Views
423
Rank
676,650
PlumX Metrics