Title: Salesmen's motivations in the pharmaceutical industry in India

Authors: G. Yoganandan

Addresses: Periyar Institute of Management Studies, Periyar University, Salem – 636011, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract: The primary aim of this research is to examine the motivational factors of salesmen working in the pharmaceutical industry in India. The sales employees are critical for providing quality service to all stakeholders. Their motivation is the key to the success or failure of a pharmaceutical organisation as motivated employees directly and indirectly contribute to the development and growth of organisations. A suitable questionnaire was framed to gather the data from 250 salesmen working in the five districts of Tamil Nadu. The motivational variables are taken from the Herzberg's two factor theory. The study revealed that growth opportunities available in the pharmaceutical industry is the most important motivational factor (satisfier) and job security is the most important maintenance factor (dissatisfier). In addition to focusing on these two factors, it is also recommended that the pharmaceutical companies should not give a standardised reward policy, instead they have to design rewards individual-specific to the extent possible for their salesmen.

Keywords: medical representatives; motivation; pharmaceutical sector; pharmaceutical companies; salesmen; satisfaction; India.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIR.2020.10028390

International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 2021 Vol.26 No.1, pp.20 - 33

Received: 04 Jul 2019
Accepted: 13 Oct 2019
Published online: 23 Sep 2021 *

Full-text access for editors Access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article