Michael Lynn

The desire for unique consumer products: A new individual differences scale

In this article we examine individual differences in the desire for unique consumer products. We identify several of the antecedents and consequences of this variable and argue that a new scale to measure it is needed. Then we report the results of our efforts to develop and validate such a scale. The 8-item scale that emerged from these efforts is shown to be unidimensional, to have a factor structure that generalizes across student and nonstudent samples, and to have acceptable internal and test–retest reliabilities. The scales validity is attested to by its theoretically intelligible relationships with other personality measures and by its ability to differentiate between the patrons of an artistic theater and a second-run theater. Finally, we discuss the potential uses of the scale in both basic and applied marketing research.

The norm of restaurant tipping

Abstract Using survey data, we identify a variety of factors that influence tipping behavior and in the process lay out a simple theoretical framework to help to interpret our empirical observations. We first investigate the efficiency of observed tipping behavior. While there are elements of efficiency—notably, percent tip depends on service quality—it does not appear fully efficient. We then posit a model in which customers trade off material well-being against disutility from not adhering to the norm, and we use this model to reinterpret initial empirical findings and make additional empirical predictions.

Restaurant tipping: an examination of three 'rational' explanations

Tipping is a world-wide custom involving billions of dollars. The voluntary nature of tipping raises questions about why people tip. From a rational-choice perspective, tipping makes sense only if desired outcomes are contingent on how much is tipped. Three possibilities are that people tip in order to buy social approval, equitable relationships and/or future service. Hypotheses derived from these potential explanations for tipping were tested in a study in which restaurant customers were interviewed (as they left the restaurant) about their dining experience and tipping behavior. Tipping was related to bill size, patronage frequency, service ratings and the interaction of bill size with patronage frequency. Tipping was not related to group size, number of courses, alcohol consumption, food ratings or the interaction of patronage frequency with service ratings. These results are consistent with the use of tips to buy social approval and equitable relationships but not with the use of tips to buy future service.

Gratitude and gratuity: a meta-analysis of research on the service-tipping relationship ☆

Abstract The relationship between tip size and evaluations of the service was assessed in a meta-analysis of seven published and six unpublished studies involving 2547 dining parties at 20 different restaurants. Consistent with theories about equity motivation and the economic functions of tipping, there was a positive and statistically significant relationship between tip size and service evaluations. However, that relationship was much smaller than is generally supposed. The confounding effects of customer mood and patronage frequency as well as the reverse-causality effects of server favoritism toward big tippers were all examined and shown to be insufficient explanations for the correlation between tipping and service evaluations. These findings suggest that tippers are concerned about equitable economic relationships with servers, but that equity effects may be too weak for tip size to serve as a valid measure of server performance or for tipping to serve as an effective incentive for delivering good service.

Scarcity effects on desirability: Mediated by assumed expensiveness?

Abstract Traditional micro-economic theory assumes that consumer preferences are independent of market forces like supply, demand and price. However, this assumption is inconsistent with psychological research on commodity theory (Brock 1968). This research has found that scarcity enhances the desirability of experiences and objects. Two studies were conducted to test the possibility that these scarcity effects on desirability are due to a tendency for people to assume that scarce things cost more. Consistent with this hypothesis, study 1 found that scarcity increased the desirability of art prints only when subjects had been primed to think about the expensiveness of art prints in general. Study 2 further supported the hypothesis by finding that scarcity enhanced the desirability of wine only when subjects did not know how much the wine cost. The economic, marketing and research implications of these results are discussed.

Identifying Innovative National Markets for Technical Consumer Goods

Focuses on population characteristics that appear to make one nation more or less innovative for technical consumer products. Finds three predictors ‐ individualism, uncertainty avoidance and purchasing power ‐ to be related to national levels of new product ownership within Europe. Discusses the results, focusing on their implications for marketers seeking to export innovative technological consumer goods to Europe and elsewhere.

Responses to Lonely Hearts Advertisements Effects of Reported Physical Attractiveness, Physique, and Coloration

This study employed lonely hearts advertisements to investigate the effects of reported physical appearance on interpersonal attraction. The personal advertisements in a local Columbus magazine were coded in terms of the individuals gender, height, weight, hair color, eye color, and evaluative self-description of his or her own appearance. The magazine recorded the number of responses each ad received, and this constituted the dependent measure. Multiple linear regression analyses indicated that more responses were received by women and by individuals providing nonnegative, evaluative self-descriptions than by their counterparts. Also, tall male advertisers and light female advertisers received more responses than their shorter and heavier counterparts. Finally, advertisers with red or salt and pepper hair received more responses than blonde and brunette advertisers. Discussion focused on the relations between these findings and those of past research and on the utility of lonely hearts advertisements in psychological research.

Restaurant tipping and service quality A tenuous relationship

Abstract The connection between service quality and tip sizes is tenuous at best, as shown by an analysis of 14 studies (involving 2,645 dining parties at 21 different restaurants) that examined the relationship between service and tips. The meta-analysis of the studies sought to statistically combine 24 correlations between tipping and service. While the studies taken together found that, indeed, tips increased with the perceived quality of service, the relationship was weak enough to raise doubts about the use of tips to motivate servers, measure server performance, or identify dissatisfied customers.

The Effects of Alcohol Consumption on Restaurant Tipping

Two explanations for the effects of alcohol on prosocial behavior-that is, mood enhancement and cognitive impairment-suggest that restaurant diners should tip more when they have consumed alcohol than when they have not. However, previous attempts to find a relationship between percent tip and alcohol consumption have failed. This failure may be due to statistical problems associated with using percent tip as a measure of tipping. This article reports a study that uses as a dependent variable residuals from a regression of bill size on tip amount. The results of this study indicate that alcohol consumption is positively related to tipping.

Determinants and Consequences of Female Attractiveness and Sexiness: Realistic Tests with Restaurant Waitresses

Waitresses completed an on-line survey about their physical characteristics, self-perceived attractiveness and sexiness, and average tips. The waitresses’ self-rated physical attractiveness increased with their breast sizes and decreased with their ages, waist-to-hip ratios, and body sizes. Similar effects were observed on self-rated sexiness, with the exception of age, which varied with self-rated sexiness in a negative, quadratic relationship rather than a linear one. Moreover, the waitresses’ tips varied with age in a negative, quadratic relationship, increased with breast size, increased with having blond hair, and decreased with body size. These findings, which are discussed from an evolutionary perspective, make several contributions to the literature on female physical attractiveness. First, they replicate some previous findings regarding the determinants of female physical attractiveness using a larger, more diverse, and more ecologically valid set of stimuli than has been studied before. Second, they provide needed evidence that some of those determinants of female beauty affect interpersonal behaviors as well as attractiveness ratings. Finally, they indicate that some determinants of female physical attractiveness do not have the same effects on overt interpersonal behavior (such as tipping) that they have on attractiveness ratings. This latter contribution highlights the need for more ecologically valid tests of evolutionary theories about the determinants and consequences of female beauty.