National Acceptance of Tipping between China and the United States
《跨文化交际》课程论文

Abstract：In many countries around the world, it is customary for consumers of hospitality and other services to provide some tips to their servers. But because of their different social backgrounds, social systems, ways of thinking, norms of behaviors and customs, people may have different attitudes toward tipping. In this article, the definition and the origin of tipping will be introduced first. And then, the attitudes of the Chinese and the Americans toward tipping will be compared on the basis of analyzing in three aspects: the economic factor, the historical factor and the psychological factor. Knowing these factors help to people get a better understanding about tipping.
Keywords: tipping satisfaction morale virtue respect

1. Introduction
Nowadays, as many countries have laid emphasis on developing the Third Industry and Tipping is a widespread custom in many countries. As we know, people from some other countries, just like people from the United States, will often give sums of money above and beyond the contracted prices of those services to the workers who have served them. "Tipping is an interesting behavior because tips are voluntary payments given after services have been rendered," states Lynn in his most recent study, who is now professor of consumer behavior at Cornell University in New York, "Consumers rarely pay more than necessary for goods and services. Tipping represents a multibillion-dollar exception to this general rule."(Lynn 2000: 204) But it isn't a globally consistent phenomenon. There's such a case that Xiao Chen invited her American friend to a restaurant to have dinner. As Chen intended to leave after paying the bill, her friend asked: "Why didn't you tip the waiter?" "I've paid the bill, and there's no need to pay more." answered Chen. From this case,