Restaurant Tips and Service Quality: A Commentary on Bodvarsson, Luksetich and McDermott

Abstract

Bodvarsson, et. al. (2003) argue that a non-recursive relationship between service and tipping has lead researchers to under-estimate the strength of the causal impact of service on tipping. In this paper, I criticize their arguments, analyses, and conclusions. Then, I reanalyze their data to draw more appropriate conclusions about what the data say concerning the effects of service on tipping.