Marketing Science· 2026Q1
Injunctive Norms Outperform Reciprocity: Tip Request Messages Can Increase Tipping Without Reducing Demand
- 2citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
A field experiment (n=435,969) found that "It's customary to leave a tip" messages increased tipping rates by up to 11.8 percentage points (pp) for new buyers and 6.8 pp for repeat buyers on the web, without negatively impacting future demand.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Injunctive norms messages ("It's customary to leave a tip") increased tipping rates by 11.8 pp (new buyers) and 6.8 pp (repeat buyers) on the web.
- In-app, injunctive norms messages increased tipping rates by 2.5 pp (new buyers) and 1.4 pp (repeat buyers).
- Tipping increases from these messages were positively correlated with transaction order price.
- Norms and personalized reciprocity messages increased subsequent orders and spending on the web.
- Tip request messages can motivate tipping without reducing future demand.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Tip request messages are marketing communications that can help digital platforms balance customer spending with worker effort and compensation. We report the first field experiments manipulating tip request message content, analyzing 435,969 transactions. We test how three appeals based on tipping motivations–injunctive norms (“It’s customary to leave a tip for the seller’s service”), personalized reciprocity and impersonal reciprocity–affect tipping and future demand in a global freelance marketplace. On the web, first exposures to the injunctive norms message increased new buyers’ tipping rate by 11.8 percentage points (p.p.), and repeat buyers’ tipping rate by 6.8 p.p. In the app, first exposures to the injunctive norms message increased tipping rate by 2.5 p.p. for new buyers and 1.4 p.p. for repeat buyers. Treatment effects on tipping increase with transaction order price. The norms and personalized reciprocity messages increased subsequent orders and spending in the web experiment, and did not significantly change repatronage in the app experiment, suggesting that effective tipping prompts need not reduce future business. Overall, tip request messages can motivate customer tipping to better incentivize and compensate gig workers, but optimization requires careful testing.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Marketing Science, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Sociology and Political Science
Sociology and Political ScienceSocial Sciences