Do people tip because of psychological or strategic motivations? An empirical analysis of restaurant tipping

One of the most interesting and central questions about tipping is why people tip. The two major potential reasons are strategic behaviour aimed to ensure good future service and social/psychological motivations. Data on tipping behaviour suggests that there is no positive effect of patronage frequency on the sensitivity of tips to service quality. This implies that people tip only because of social and psychological motivations, and not because of strategic reasons and future service considerations.