The Saudi consumer, being the focus of this study, is driven by multiple forces and motivations that impact their consumption behavior, where the gender of consumer is another major determinant of those behaviors. While recent macroenvironmental changes were observed to justify the shifts in consumer behaviors, the cultural dimension and gender of consumer are the focus of our research. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between cultural context level and tipping motivations, and the moderating role of gender on this relationship. To assess this research, an SEM model is presented along six hypotheses to uncover the nature of relations among the said variables. With a sample size of 351 participants, respondent’s data confirmed that majority of sample do represent features of a high context culture, and the results are only similar with previous findings when assessing service as a dimension for tipping motivation. Social norms and peer pressure were not significant indicators of tipping behaviors for consumers in high context cultures. Furthermore, gender differences were clearly spotted, where females showed higher motivation to tip following motives of social norms and peer pressure. This study adds to the literature of cultural consumer behavior, and the findings represent handful information that can be applied by international managers to better understand and serve their global agenda.
Keywords: Consumer Behavior, Cultural Context, Saudi Arabia, Tipping
