Smiling for tips? Will restaurant servers’ actions affect customers’ emotional contagion and tipping behavior?

Purpose This study aims to examine the impacts of restaurant servers’ actions on the customers’ emotional contagion and the impacts of customers’ emotional contagion on their intention to tip and the likelihood of tipping. This study also explores social compliance and examines its impacts on customers’ intentions to tip and the likelihood of tipping. Design/methodology/approach Taking a restaurant in Taiwan as an example, this study uses questionnaires to investigate five constructs of the research framework, which are restaurant servers’ actions, restaurant customers’ susceptibility to emotional contagion, customers’ intention to tip, customers’ likelihood of tipping and customers’ social compliance. The questionnaires were distributed online using Surveycake website. A total of 310 completed questionnaires were collected. Findings The results indicate the following: restaurant servers’ actions positively affect customers’ susceptibility to emotional contagion; customers’ emotional contagion positively affects their intention to tip and likelihood of tipping; customers’ social compliance positively affects their intentions to tip and the likelihood of tipping; and customers’ emotional contagion partially mediates the effects of restaurant servers’ actions on customers’ intention to tip and likelihood of tipping. Originality/value The hypothesis test results in this article not only successfully integrate or confirm the research findings of past scholars, but also expand the scope of research on related topics. Furthermore, the research findings of this study provide restaurant practitioners with rich marketing implications.