Date of Defense

Spring 4-16-2004

Department

Sociology

First Advisor

Thomas Ford, Sociology

Second Advisor

Gerald Markle, Sociology

Third Advisor

Paul Weiner, Sociology

Keywords

waiters, waitresses, wait staff

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a field experiment designed to test the hypothesis that restaurant patrons (particularly men) would leave larger tips for an attractive versus unattractive female server. The author manipulated server attractiveness by varying her appearance before shirts as a food server at a popular restaurant. Contrary to the hypothesis, patrons (both men and women) left comparable sized tips in the attractive and unattractive server conditions. Explanations for this null effect are discussed in the contest of research on the effect of server attractiveness on tipping and perceived tipping norms.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Open Access

Share

COinS