ABSTRACT Title: Salesmen & Compensations - A qualitative study regarding salespeoples

experiences with different compensation plans. Authors: Milenko Bijelic & Robin Heimberger Supervisor: Lars-Johan Åge, Jonas Molin & Jens Eklinder Frick Date: 2014 - June

Aim: The aim of this study is to examine how salespeople respond to a fixed compensation plan versus a compensation plan based on a variable pay and how the implementation of these compensation plans can affect sales peoples’ emotions and motivation.

Method: For this study, a qualitative method has been used. Data for the study has been collected through semi-structured interviews and the empirical data has been presented and analyzed using the well-grounded theory.

Result & the contribution of the thesis: The result of this study shows that there are differences in how the compensation plans tend to affect salespeople regarding an number of different factors. The study contributes with a greater understanding about how compensation plans affect salespeople.

Suggestions for future research: For future research we suggest a quantitative study with the same aim as we have used for this study so that a generalizable understanding about sales peoples’ experiences with different compensation plans can be conducted.

Key words: Compensation plans, motivation, stress, variable pay, fixed pay