Travel Disputes between the Tour Leader and Tour Participants: an Issue of Tipping

This study identified five factors - social norms, selfish economic behaviour, perceived equity, service performance, and company’s tipping policies – which influence travellers to tip. There is a gap between service providers and tour participants in term of the perception of tipping. The service performance was considered the most important factor in influencing customers to tip by the tour participants.

In contrast, selfish economic behavior seemed to be more salient than the other variables on the impact of tour leaders’ perceptions of why customers should tip. In addition, tour participants’ tipping perceptions do not make much difference among their social-demographical variables.