Abstract
Tipping remains an evergreen topic within the American cultural landscape, and Michael Lynn has established himself over the past few decades as a preeminent scholar of tipping. A new book-length treatment on the topic was long overdue. The Psychology of Tipping takes stock of recent empirical scholarship on tipping, especially studies that examine the psychological dimensions and consumer behaviors surrounding tipping. Further, because giving and receiving tips are inherently relational social phenomena, Lynn spotlights tipping’s implications for consumers, service workers, and businesses, respectively (Lynn also briefly notes “government agents” who are responsible for tipping policies).
The book is arranged into 10 chapters, each written in a scientific-yet-approachable manner, aimed at readers in academia and beyond. Early chapters explore foundational questions on tipping, such as why we should care about tipping and why people tip in the first place. Surveying recent research, subsequent chapters explore various factors that have been found to influence tipping practices. Readers learn about whether time of day and season matter for tipping (Ch.4), how tipping varies across geographic areas (Ch.5), and who tips more and who receives greater tips based on demographic characteristics, such as gender, race, and age (Ch.3, Ch.6). To oversimplify Lynn’s findings, each of these factors matter for tipping but are also highly dependent on context. For example, some studies show that men servers make slightly more in tips than women servers, but this is mostly because the former tend to work in higher-end, full-service restaurants; conventionally attractive workers get tipped more than their less attractive counterparts, but other attributes like personality have little correlation to tips received (Ch.7). Indeed, one takeaway from this book is that tipping is complex; readers hoping for a clear argument about the “goodness and badness” of tipping—to borrow Lynn’s expression—will likely be disappointed.
Lynn does offer readers some novel, data-driven insights to make sense of enduring puzzles about tipping. For instance, in a fascinating chapter on why we tip some service occupations and not others, Lynn notes that tipped occupations more commonly feature workers with “low income and status,” who “provide more customized services,” and “handle customer payments of the bill” (p.96). The book also covers recent issues and controversies on tipping, such as “tip-creep” (the expansion of tipping into traditionally un-tipped service establishments), the rise of digital forms of tipping, and recent movements attempting to abolish tipping and promote no-tipping business models. In each of these areas, Lynn is exceedingly careful not to overstate his conclusions beyond what available studies and empirical data show, often highlighting sound points on both sides of key debates. While this may leave some readers wanting, I found the book’s dedication to rigorous scientific research on tipping admirable at a time when opinions and outrage get tossed around a dime a dozen on social media. Relatedly, given the intended readership of this book, I suspect one of the chapters that will be best received focuses on what service workers can do to increase their tips. Drawing on research-backed insights (which I won’t give away here), Lynn’s pragmatic list of service dos and don’ts is geared towards maximizing real-world impact for people who rely on tips for a living or manage those who do.
No book can do it all. At times, the book’s close-to-the-data approach under the framework of the psychology of tipping causes it to downplay the social forces that deeply impact tipping. While I recognize disciplinary differences (I am a sociologist by trade), some of the findings Lynn highlights could have benefitted from more explicit attention to the socio-structural issues that underlie them. The author acknowledges the impact of race, class, and gender on tipping practices and outcomes, but these issues do not consistently figure into Lynn’s scientific insights for stakeholders. For instance, Lynn writes: “Such knowledge about who gets the biggest and smallest tips could help managers identify and hire those job applicants with the greatest tip earning potential and, therefore, likelihood of being retained.” (100) If so, what do we do with the inconvenient truth (and potential for hiring discrimination) that it is often young, white, and conventionally attractive people, especially women, who embody this tip earning potential?
The Psychology of Tipping remains an important and timely contribution to tipping literature. The book is a groundbreaking one-stop-shop for psychological and consumer-driven research on tipping that deserves a wide readership of academics and industry practitioners alike.
