The Principle of Reciprocity in Hospitality Contexts: The Relationship Between Tipping Behavior and Food Servers’ Approaches to Handling Leftovers

Based on the norm of reciprocity, this study hypothesized that food servers would earn higher tips when they boxed customers’ leftovers compared with having customers’ box leftovers themselves. In addition, the effect of writing messages (i.e., the date and/or customer’s name) on boxes of leftovers was explored. Two female food servers waited on 608 diners and boxed or did not box leftovers, and wrote or did not write messages on boxes. The hypothesis was supported. However, writing messages was not associated with tipping behavior.