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Effect of Server's “Thank You” and Personalization on Restaurant Tipping 1
Author(s) -
Rind Bruce,
Bordia Prashant
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1995.tb01772.x
Subject(s) - gratitude , personalization , server , nothing , advertising , internet privacy , world wide web , computer science , psychology , business , social psychology , philosophy , epistemology
Servers in restaurants frequently use the tactic of writing “thank you” on the backs of checks before delivering them to dining parties. Servers also frequently personalize their interaction with dining parties by signing their first name below the gratitude message. The effectiveness of these tactics in increasing tips was examined. In a field experiment conducted in an upscale restaurant in a large Northeastern city, a server wrote on the backs of the checks either nothing, “thank you,” or “thank you” plus her first name. The addition of “thank you” increased tip percentages, although personalization by adding her first name had no effect. It was concluded that the commonly employed low‐cost tactic of expressing gratitude to customers by writing “thank you” on the check can produce a worthwhile return.