TASK C: Based on the Introduction Section of a published research article given below. answer the following questions. 1. What is the problem(s) that is stated about the research? (10p) 2. What evidence is provided with regards to previous research that has been done? (10p) 3. What is the purpose of the research? (10p) "What am I tipping you for? Customer response to tipping requests at limited-service restaurants" Ismail Karabas, Marissa Orlowski, and Sarah Lefebvre, 2020 Imagine placing an order at the counter of a limited-service restaurant (LSR) and, while completing your transaction, the payment terminal asks whether you would like to leave a tip. Will you leave a tip? More importantly, how do you respond to being asked to leave a tip before you even receive your food? Although tipping is considered a social norm within many service industries, LSRs contrast full-service restaurants (FSRs; e.g. TGI Fridays, Applebee's), in that they have traditionally not been establishments where customers are expected to tip employees (Lynn, 2016, 2018). [...] The current work focuses on customer response to tip requests at LSRs where customers order at the counter, pay for their items before consuming the product and receive minimal to no service. In the restaurant industry, tipping is a norm at FSRs. According to the US North American Industry Classification System (NAICS] (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017a), FSRS are "primarily engaged in providing food services to patrons who order and are served while seated (i.e. waiter/Waitress service) and pay after eating" (e.g. casual to fine dining restaurants, such as Applebee's, Olive Garden and Ruth's Chris Steakhouse). Thus, customers provide tips to employees for waiting on their table and assisting with their dining experience. [...] Comparatively, at LSRs, "patrons generally order or select items and pay before eating" (US Census Bureau, 2017b). In these establishments, for which Chipotle Mexican Grill, Panera Bread and Jersey Mike's Subs are prime examples, employees often receive the order and then hand the food to customers. Thus, relative to FSRS, LSRs provide substantially less service. Employees at LSRs are also generally compensated at a rate of pay that is not "tip-reliant"; for example, the average hourly rate at Panera Bread is $10.27 and at Chipotle Mexican Grill is $11.12 (PayScale, 2020a, 2020b). Combined, these characteristics of LSRs make tipping more unusual. Yet, despite tipping at LSRS being outside the norm, thereby presenting a potential challenge in terms of justifying a tipping request, recent evidence shows that many LSRs have started prompting their customers to tip (Kim, 2018). This raises questions regarding the customer response to tipping at LSRs. Research has identified that a customer's likelihood to return to a restaurant is influenced by other service environment factors such as Wi-Fi availability (Cobanoglu et al., 2012), cleanliness (Barber et al., 2011) and server incivility (Karabas et al., 2019), and thus it is logical to expect a service-related factor such as a tip request could also influence likelihood to return. Yet, while extant research sheds light on the customer response to tipping at FSRs, behavioral responses to the newer phenomenon of tipping at LSRs have been minimally explored. This is the central question underlying the current research. More specifically, the current research seeks to answer the following questions: Q1. What is the effect of a tip request on a customer's likelihood to return to an LSR? Q2. What are the factors that may influence a customer's response to these tip requests? Building on findings from services literature and grounded in reactance and equity theories, it is proposed that a tip request at an LSR is outside the social norm and therefore unanticipated, which can induce customer irritation and reduce return likelihood. Across four studies, this work aims to contribute to tipping research by examining customer response to tip requests at LSRs and how customer irritation mediates this relationship. In addition, this research examines how the check amount and the perceived deservingness of a tip alter the above indirect effect. Beyond offering implications for tipping and service theory, the findings of this work provide insight for LSR operators as to when a tip request is most appropriate so they can avoid a negative customer response. Reference Karabas, I., Orlowski, M., & Lefebvre, S. (2020). What am I tipping you for? Customer response to tipping requests at limited-service restaurants. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 32(5), 2007-2026. DOI 10.1108/1JCHM-12-2019-0981 *Karabas, Orlowski, and Lefebvre's 2020 article in Task C has been shortened for the purposes of this assignment, as indicated with [...]