Consumers can provide monetary tips to service employees as a reward for their efforts. However, consumers’ ability to recognize the demands of these jobs could affect tipping…
Abstract
Purpose
Consumers can provide monetary tips to service employees as a reward for their efforts. However, consumers’ ability to recognize the demands of these jobs could affect tipping behavior. This study aims to examine the difficulty consumers have recognized the emotional toll of service work, and how this affects tipping behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
Three experiments were conducted with US participants to determine how the focus on emotional burdens of service work affects willingness to tip lower level service employees.
Findings
Results reveal that when consumers hear about the emotional costs of service labor, they report less willingness to tip low-level workers, compared to when they learn about other job costs or contributions. Results further show that reducing power distance between customers and workers can increase willingness to tip when emotional costs are emphasized.
Research limitations/implications
This research contributes to the services literature by showing how feelings of power affect whether consumers appreciate certain job costs, and, in turn, their tipping behavior.
Practical implications
This research clarifies how consumers perceive job demands, which has direct consequences for tipping behavior and suggests more strategies to improve tips.
Social implications
Findings can help advocates looking to advance the status and compensation for lower-level service workers.
Originality/value
This research is first to explore why the emotional costs of service labor are not recognized in certain cases, and provides insight on how to improve customer treatment of lower-level service labor.
Details
Keywords
Sigalit Ronen and Ayala Malach Pines
The purpose of this paper is to investigate gender differences in burnout, style of coping and the availability of peer support among high‐tech engineers
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate gender differences in burnout, style of coping and the availability of peer support among high‐tech engineers
Design/methodology/approach
A longitudinal study investigated gender differences in burnout, style of coping and the availability of peer support among high‐tech engineers, an interesting occupational group from a gender perspective both because of the masculine culture of the engineering profession and the many prejudices against women engineers. Both the masculine culture and the prejudices help explain the paucity of women engineers and predict high levels of burnout among them.
Findings
The paper's findings supported this prediction. They revealed a significant gender difference in burnout, with women engineers reporting higher levels of burnout than men. The gender differences in burnout were interpreted as related to other findings: women's greater tendency to utilize emotion‐focused coping, their smaller peer support and greater work–family conflict.
Originality/value
In addition to their implications for gender theory and research and for burnout theory and research, the paper's findings point to the need to encourage and support the small and unique group of women engineers.