More to tip, or tip more? Examining consumers' preservice tipping behavior in the on-demand supermarket delivery context

Abstract

Consumers' preservice tipping behavior serves as a window to reflect their economic and social perception and desire for high service quality but is rarely discussed in tipping literature, compared with postservice tipping. The on-demand feature in the online-to-offline context complicates the fulfillment performance and consumers' preservice tipping behavior, including whether to tip (i.e., tip giving) and how much to tip (i.e., tip size). Using data from one of the biggest on-demand supermarket delivery platforms in China, we find that the factors that stimulate consumers' tip-giving behavior do not lead them to tip more. In addition, consumers' current preservice tipping behavior is affected by their current purchase process and also depends on providers' previous fulfillment performance. Moreover, consumers consider the number of items in the order, order weight, and weather conditions when fulfilling the orders when making their tipping decisions. Further, consumers' tip-giving and size decisions vary across their on-demand supermarket delivery shopping frequencies and their income levels. The findings provide implications for on-demand supermarket delivery platforms to understand different types of consumers' preservice tipping behavior that indicates their expectations and perception and thus provide decision support for on-demand supermarket delivery platforms to implement targeted actions accordingly. In this way, on-demand supermarket delivery platforms can improve their service and image to stimulate consumers' actions to motivate employees to improve their service and better benefit the platforms.