Strategic Behavior and Social Norms in Tipped Service Industries

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ofer H Azar
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Theoretical Model ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Strategic Behavior ◽  
Social Norm ◽  
Service Industries ◽  
Fundamental Question ◽  
Good Future ◽  
Tipping Behavior

Abstract Tipping is a multi-billion-dollar phenomenon that traditional economic theory finds hard to explain. Why do people leave money as tips when service has already been provided? Two main potential reasons are that tipping is a social norm, and a strategic behavior aimed to assure good future service. A game-theoretical model is developed which allows the analysis of how tipping behavior should depend on patronage frequency if strategic motivations affect tipping. Thus, the model provides predictions that can be combined with empirical data on tipping behavior to answer the fundamental question, why do people tip?

Can Humanism be the Social Norm?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon D. Welch
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Social Norm ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Human Reasoning ◽  
Individual Freedom ◽  
Social Divisions ◽  
The Social

Assaults on truth and divisions about the nature of wise governance are not momentary political challenges, unique to particular moments in history. Rather, they demonstrate fundamental weaknesses in human reasoning and core dangers in ways of construing both individual freedom and cohesive communities. It will remain an ongoing challenge to learn to deal rationally with what is an intrinsic irrationality in human cognition and with what is an intrinsic tendency toward domination and violence in human collectivities. In times of intense social divisions, it is vital to consider the ways in which humanism might function as the social norm by, paradoxically, functioning in a way different from other social norms. Humanism is not the declaration that a certain set of values or norms are universally valid. At its best and most creative, humanism is not limited to a particular set of norms, but is, rather, the commitment to a certain process in which norms are continuously created, critically evaluated, implemented, sustained or revised. Humanism is a process of connection, perception, implementation, and critique, and it applies this process as much to itself as to other traditions.

The role of social norms in the relationship between anti-smoking advertising campaigns and smoking cessation: a scoping review

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 179-194
Author(s):  
Joanne Dono ◽  
Caroline Miller ◽  
Kerry Ettridge ◽  
Carlene Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Smoking Cessation ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Social Norm ◽  
Significant Heterogeneity ◽  
Mass Media Campaign ◽  
Media Campaign ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract A systematic scoping review of anti-smoking mass media campaign literature provided opportunity to explore how social normative theories and constructs are used to influence smoking cessation. Synthesis of findings was constrained by significant heterogeneity. Nevertheless, the results indicate that a broader conceptualization of social norm is worthy of further exploration. Perceptions of what others think and do contributed in multiple ways to the relationship between anti-smoking messaging and quitting outcomes. Furthermore, integrating research on social norms, social identity and communication may improve understanding of why quitting intentions are enhanced in some circumstances but reactance and counter-arguing responses corresponding to lower quitting intentions occur in others. Integrating a broader theoretical understanding of normative influences into campaign development and evaluation may prove useful in demonstrating the effectiveness of this approach in behaviour change campaigns.

Parental leave length, social norms, and female labor market re-entry frictions

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 600-620 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vojtech Bartoš ◽  
Barbara Pertold-Gebicka
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Job Search ◽  
Social Norm ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Human Resource Managers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Job Applicant ◽  
Employment Gaps ◽  
The Difference

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the role of employers in creating employment gaps among women returning to the labor market after parental leaves of different durations. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a controlled correspondence field experiment that orthogonally manipulates parental leave length and the quality of fictitious female job candidates. The experiment is complemented with a survey among human resource managers. Findings High-quality candidates receive more interview invitations when applying after a short parental leave, while low-quality (LQ) candidates receive more interview invitations when applying after a typical three years long parental leave. Survey results suggest that the difference in invitations between short and typical leave treatments is driven by a social norm that mothers should stay home with children younger than three. Productivity gains from employing a LQ job applicant with a shorter career break might not be high enough to outweigh the adverse social norm effect. Social implications The presented results point toward the strong effect of prevailing social norms on job search prospects of women returning to the labor market after parental leave. Originality/value A correspondence experiment has not been used before to study the relationship between time spent on leave and the labor market prospects of mothers. It also extends research on social norms to the domain of hiring decisions.

scholarly journals The Ethics of Stigma in Medical Male Circumcision Initiatives Involving Adolescents in Sub-Saharan Africa

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Rennie ◽  
Adam Gilbertson ◽  
Denise Hallfors ◽  
Winnie K Luseno
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Male Circumcision ◽  
Social Norm ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Human History ◽  
Health Prevention ◽  
Medical Male Circumcision ◽  
Demand Creation ◽  
Ethics Research

Abstract Ongoing global efforts to circumcise adolescent and adult males to reduce their risk of acquiring HIV constitute the largest public health prevention initiative, using surgical means, in human history. Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) programs in Africa have significantly altered social norms related to male circumcision among previously non-circumcising groups and groups that have practiced traditional (non-medical) circumcision. One consequence of this change is the stigmatization of males who, for whatever reason, remain uncircumcised. This paper discusses the ethics of stigma with regard to uncircumcised adolescent males in global VMMC programs, particularly in certain recruitment, demand creation and social norm interventions. Grounded in our own experiences gained while conducting HIV-related ethics research with adolescents in Kenya, we argue that use of explicit or implicit stigma to increase the number of VMMC volunteers is unethical from a public health ethics perspective, particularly in campaigns that leverage social norms of masculinity. Ongoing global efforts to circumcise adolescent and adult males to reduce their risk of acquiring HIV constitute the largest public health prevention initiative, using surgical means, in human history. VMMC programs in Africa have significantly altered social norms related to male circumcision among previously non-circumcising groups and groups that have practiced traditional (non-medical) circumcision. One consequence of this change is the stigmatization of males who, for whatever reason, remain uncircumcised. This paper discusses the ethics of stigma with regard to uncircumcised adolescent males in global VMMC programs, particularly in certain recruitment, demand creation and social norm interventions. Grounded in our own experiences gained while conducting HIV-related ethics research with adolescents in Kenya, we argue that use of explicit or implicit stigma to increase the number of VMMC volunteers is unethical from a public health ethics perspective, particularly in campaigns that leverage social norms of masculinity.

Corruption and the criminal law: assurance and deterrence

2021 ◽  
pp. e20210014
Author(s):  
Vincent Chiao
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Social Norm ◽  
Ideal Types ◽  
Systemic Corruption ◽  
Substantial Degree

In this article, I consider the degree to which criminal justice interventions may be expected to ameliorate systemic corruption. I distinguish between two ideal types of corrupt actors – conditional cooperators and autonomous defectors – and argue that the prospects of reform through criminal justice is greatly affected by the relative preponderance of each type. When conditional cooperators predominate, the criminal law serves primarily to provide assurance that a perceived social norm is effective, in that the norm is both widely adhered to, and adhered to because people endorse the propriety of that norm. When autonomous defectors predominate, the criminal law serves primarily to deter would-be cheaters by attaching costs, at least in expectation, to cheating. Because patterns of compliance based upon a social norm tend to be self-reinforcing, unlike patterns of compliance motivated by fear of sanction, I argue that the prospects of sustainable reform through criminal justice interventions is likely to depend to a substantial degree upon convincing people to trust social norms rather than rely upon their private judgments of what is in their interest – that is, to become conditional cooperators.

How to Deal With Death: An Empirical Path Analysis of a Simplified Model of Death Anxiety

2018 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-277
Author(s):  
Vera Surall ◽  
Inga Steppacher
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Theoretical Model ◽  
Path Analysis ◽  
Mediation Analysis ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Death Anxiety ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
Model Fit ◽  
Simplified Model ◽  
Death Acceptance

How anxious are you about dying? According to Tomer and Eliason, this depends on various personal circumstances, which they identified in their model on death anxiety. This study aims to verify various aspects of Tomer and Eliason’s theoretical model. We therefore collected data from 652 German participants about demographic variables, religiosity, life satisfaction, death acceptance, and death anxiety. We then conducted a path analysis in order to verify whether the empirical data supported the theoretical model. Our results demonstrate a very good model fit, indicating that the analyzed model is valid and can be maintained. Further mediation analysis demonstrates the specific relations of variables within the model and their influence on death anxiety.

scholarly journals SHRIEKING SIRENS: SCHEMATA, SCRIPTS, AND SOCIAL NORMS. HOW CHANGE OCCURS

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Bicchieri ◽  
Peter McNally
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Behavioral Interventions ◽  
Social Norm ◽  
Gender Norms ◽  
Female Genital Cutting ◽  
Spreading Activation ◽  
Open Defecation ◽  
Genital Cutting ◽  
Female Genital

Abstract:This essay investigates the relationships among scripts, schemata, and social norms. The authors examine how social norms are triggered by particular schemata and are grounded in scripts. Just as schemata are embedded in a network, so too are social norms, and they can be primed through spreading activation. Moreover, the expectations that allow a social norm’s existence are inherently grounded in particular scripts and schemata. Using interventions that have targeted gender norms, open defecation, female genital cutting, and other collective issues as examples, the authors argue that ignoring the cognitive underpinnings of a social norm can hamper the effectiveness of behavioral interventions.

SOCIAL NORMS OF COORDINATION AND COOPERATION

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerry Mackie
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Social Norm ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
Social Approval ◽  
Social Convention ◽  
Social Conventions ◽  
Sharp Distinction ◽  
Relevant Group ◽  
Scholarly Discourse ◽  
Thomas Schelling

Abstract:The scholarly discourse on social norms in the tradition of Thomas Schelling (1960) often makes a sharp distinction between social norms and social conventions. In attempting to apply that distinction to actual practices and to teach it to practitioners and students I encountered frequent difficulties and confusions, and finally concluded that it is untenable. I recommend a return to some version of Ullman-Margalit’s (1977) distinction between social norms of cooperation and social norms of coordination. Social norms, I say, are distinguished by beliefs in a relevant group that the rule is typical among them and approved of among them. I describe four ways that social norms of coordination, including conventions of social meaning, are influenced by social approval and disapproval. I contend that the effort by Southwood and Eriksson (2011) to show that social conventions and social norms are essentially different breaks down because their conception of social norms is overly moralized. I present a more social conception of social norms that does without the regnant distinction between “social norm” and “social convention” and instead allows for social norms of cooperation, social norms of coordination, and other kinds of social norms.

scholarly journals Amartya Kumar Sen’s ethical interpretation of poverty

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 157-169
Author(s):  
Damian Szymczak
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Fundamental Question ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Specific Time ◽  
Or Education ◽  
Running Water ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Good And Evil

On the threshold of the 21st century, the problem of poverty remains unresolved. Many still suffer from hunger, and many more have no access to running water, or education. This raises a fundamental question that has bothered economy researchers for centuries: What determines the wealth of some countries, and the poverty of others? One of the contemporary researchers analysing the causes of poverty and development barriers is Indian economist Amartya Kumar Sen. Referring to the socio-economic theory of Sen, the author indicates that modernity implies the need for reflection on the definition of poverty. The author attempts to justify the thesis which focuses on the discord between the evaluation concepts of good and evil with objective economic factors defining poverty. The author suggests that the definition of poverty should be grounded in considerations concerning good and evil in a specific time, as well as cultural and historical context.

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