Exploring the Power of Intrinsic Motivation for Salespeople: The Case of Bangladesh Pharmaceuticals
Mohammed Chowdhury *
Department of Business and Accounting, Touro University, New York, United States.
Zahurul Alam
Department of Management Studies, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
This paper aims to theoretically examine how the power of intrinsic motivation can significantly influence and improve the performance of pharmaceutical sales teams, particularly amidst challenges like regulatory complexities and intense competition. To examine various intrinsic motivators that can enhance the sales performance of the sales teams, this study relied on existing literature from theoretical and empirical studies. The findings indicate that to the extent that salespeople perceive their work as meaningful and engage positively with clients and the supervisors employ positive motivational strategies like granting autonomy, speaking positively, and nurturing client relationships, their intrinsic motivation increases similar to nurturing good trees (representing intrinsic motivators with stability), rather than bad trees (representing unstable extrinsic motivators), thereby boosting their overall performance. The scientific community, especially the healthcare professional and pharmaceuticals industry will benefit from reviewing this study since the study focuses on intrinsic motivation of the salespeople in the pharmaceuticals field. This study shows a direct link between the pharmaceuticals and healthcare professionals. The paper identifies the power of intrinsic motivation as instrumental in influencing the effectiveness and success of pharmaceutical salespeople in Bangladesh. The paper concludes with implications, recommendations, and directions for further research based on these findings.
Keywords: Self-determination theory, extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, meaningful work, autonomy, relatedness, competencies