The Tip Perception of the Hotel Employees: Wage or Reward?

The "tip" phenomenon attracts the attention of various disciplines such as economics, sociology and psychology while it is a voluntary payment added on the service fee. A vast majority of the research on tipping examine the tipping behavior and motivation of the customers in the light of customer responses. There is a limited number of studies examining the "tip" phenomenon from an employee perspective. The aim of this study is to determine the tipping perceptions and beliefs of the employees who communicate face-to-face with customers and work in the hotel industry in Turkey. Our study reveals the meaning of tipping for hotel employees, the dynamics that determine the customers' tipping behavior and the strategies that employees use to get a tip, considering the experience of the employees who worked/are working in a five-star hotel.