RESEARCH PROJECT
(BMBR5103)
HOW CAN MOTIVATON
IMPACTS ON PRODUCTIVITY
OF INSUARANCE SALES STAFF?

STUDENT’S NAME
STUDENT ID
INTAKE
ADVISOR’S NAME

: OAN TRUNG CHAU
: CGS00019866
: September 2015
: DR BUI PHI HUNG

(March 2017)

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Advisor’s assessment
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Advisor’s signature

Content Format:
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TABLE OF CONTENT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................... 4
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................5
1.1 Research Aim ......................................................................................................6
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................. 8
2.1 Introduction .........................................................................................................8
2.2 Motivation ...........................................................................................................8

2.3 Concept of Motivation ......................................................................................... 9
2.4 Conceptual Framework ..................................................................................... 13
2.4.1 Compensation ................................................................................................ 14
2.4.2 Benefit ........................................................................................................... 14
2.4.5 Promotion ...................................................................................................... 16
2.4.6 Training and coaching ................................................................................... 16
2.4.7 Taking care of Managers ............................................................................... 15
2.5 The Gap in Literature ........................................................................................ 17
2.6 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 18

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DATA COLLECTION
METHOD ...............................................................................................................19
3.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................19
3.2. Research design ................................................................................................. 19
3.3. Target population ............................................................................................... 20
3.4. Sample design .................................................................................................... 21
3.5. Research instrument .......................................................................................... 22
3.6. Validity and Reliability ...................................................................................... 24
3.7. Data analysis ...................................................................................................... 25
3.8. Ethical consideration ......................................................................................... 25
3.9. Conclusions ....................................................................................................... 26

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS, FINDINGS AND PRESENTATION OF DATA ....27
4.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 27
4.2. Distribution of the Respondents by Gender ...................................................... 27
4.3. Distribution of Insurance Sales staff by Highest Academic Qualifications ..... 27
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4.4. Distribution of Insurance Sales staff by Age Bracket ..................................... 28
4.5. Distribution of Sales staff by Experience in Insurance Industry...................... 29
4.6. The influence of compensation on insurance sales staff motivation at

Manulife Viet Nam ..................................................................................................29
4.7. The influence of benefit on insurance sales staff motivation at Manulife

Viet Nam .................................................................................................................31
4.8. The influence of taking care of manager on insurance sales staff

motivation at Manulife Viet Nam ...........................................................................31
4.10. The influence of training on insurance sales staff motivation at Manulife

33
4.11. Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 34

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS THE FINDINGS ....................35
5.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 35
5.2. Discussion of Key Results ................................................................................ 35
5.2.1. Key finding one – salary on insurance sales staff motivation........................ 36
5.2.3. Key finding 3 – taking care of manager on insurance sales staff motivation

36
5.2.4. Key finding 4 – promotion on insurance sales staff motivation .............. 37
5.2.5. Key finding 5 – training on insurance sales staff motivation ................... 38

5.3. Conclusion ........................................................................................................40
CHAPTER 6: RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION........................ 42
6.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 42

6.2. Summary of the Study ....................................................................................... 42
6.2.1 Addressing the Research Question .................................................................. 42
6.2.2 Methodology of the Study and Data Analysis ................................................. 43
6.2.3 Key Findings ................................................................................................... 43
6.3 Limitation of the Study ...................................................................................... 43
6.4 Recommendation ............................................................................................... 44

6.6 Conclusion .........................................................................................................45
REFRENCE LIST .................................................................................................46
APPENDIX.............................................................................................................52
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ABSTRACT
An insurance agent’s productivity when making sales is the most important task for a
successful business. A salesperson’s attitude can be the one thing that makes or breaks
a sale to any client. If your insurance sales staff are not happy or are not feeling
motivated, that could be difficult to hide on a phone call to a potential client—and
especially face to face. If your insurance agent doesn’t feel particularly motivated,
why should the potential client feel motivated to purchase insurance from him or her?
With any sales job, keeping your sales staff motivated and helping them get the most
out of their time at the office is one of the most important things you can do to boost
sales.
Successful insurance agent professionals have to maintain a positive attitude that is the
way to keep themselves motivated, especially during tough times. Keeping insurance
sales staff (insurance sales staff) productive is one of the most important tasks at any
insurance company because the sales staff are the key force who are going to help the
company grow its business.

According to research, those factors that motivate the insurance sales staff are
important to achieve the business goals. The purpose of this case study is to determine
the factors affect the insurance agency motivation in the life insurance company.
Delivering motivation to the insurance sales staff also help they love their work and
engaging for long- term with the company. This research focuses on all of insurance
sales staff at Manulife Vietnam. Total populations will use the number of samples is
chosen at random from 500 insurance sales staff of Ho Chi Minh Office – Manulife
Vietnam. Questionnaires were used to collect data from sales staff. The results suggest
an improvement of productivity and recommend that Manulife Vietnam should build
motivated policies for insurance sales staff to ensure satisfaction with their jobs.

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
When Vietnam delivered open-door policy, many insurance companies are formed and
developed with the desire to bring the noble values help to the life of Vietnamese
becoming better. In current, there are 18 insurance companies. Therefore, the
competition between companies is becoming fiercer than to gain market share.
Insurance is a high humane profession because in addition to helping people practice
the disciplined savings, it also helps that they can protect solid financial background in
the case of occurring unexpected risks in life. Meanwhile, demands and expectations
of customers about savings and protection increase more and more and more
diversified.
At any insurance company, insurance agent is one of the most important factors
because the sales staff are the ones who are going to help the company grow its
business. Insurance Sales staff are the first line operators in the Insurance sector and
they play a very critical role in the distribution and uptake of Insurance products. They

offer the “last mile” connection with the Policyholders where personalized service
come handy when closing Insurance contracts. Their role is to sell insurance;
insurance is sold, not bought!
Because insurance sales staff sell the intangible products, they are often rejected by
their customers, who do not understand about life insurance. This leads to the closing
ratio of insurance (especially new sales staff who lack of the selling skills) is not high.
Besides, the insurance agent does not have a fixed salary but receive compensation
according to the number of contracts they successfully consulted, this means insurance
sales staff will have no income in a month if they do not close any contracts with their
customers.
No income as expected, customers often refuse, sales target are not always reached…
all this makes insurance sales staff do not want to stick with the job. Because of this,
insurance sales staff need to be motivated, caring, sharing timely and properly.
By Remez Sasson, motivation is the inner power that pushes you toward taking action
and toward achievement. Motivation is powered by desire and ambition, and

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therefore, if they are absent, motivation is absent too.
Sometimes, insurance sales staff might have the desire to get something done, or to
achieve a certain goal, but if the desire and ambition are not strong enough, they lack
the push, the initiative, and the willingness to take the necessary action. In these cases,
they lack of motivation and inner drive. According to Kendra Cherry (2016) the
instinct theory of motivation, all organisms are born with innate biological tendencies
that help them survive. This theory suggests that instincts drive all behaviors. Instincts
are goal-directed and innate patterns of behaviors that are not the result of learning or
experience. For example, infants have an inborn rooting reflex that helps them seek

out a nipple and obtain nourishment while birds have an innate need to build a nest or
migrate during the winter.
Thus, the motivation for the insurance sales staff will play an important role to
achieve the goal of increasing sales.
1.1

Research Purpose
This research aim at finding out how motivation can impact on production of sales staff
(insurance sales staff) at Manulife Vietnam Company.

1.2

Research Question:
“How can motivation impacts on productivity of insurance sales sales staff at
Manulife Vietnam Company?”

1.3

Context and Relevance
This study is important because there are many insurance sales staff have just come to
the office every day without sales and they could not find a job results in their
business. They think that they have not achieved that what they want. They feel that
size their endeavor in work has not been of recognized worthy yet. When lack of
motivation to work, they could not inspire others positively. That will cause the
insurance sales staff boredom and do not want to come to the office. And this will
greatly affect the business results of the company.
This topic will explore the factors of motivation that affect the insurance sales staff.
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By highlighting these factors, Manulife Vietnam may make decisions to motivate the
agency forces.

1.4

Structure
The study has six chapters:
 Chapter 1 will be introduction about study.
 Chapter 2 will aims to analyze the literature around the topics of sales staff
motivation.
 The next section chapter 3 will discuss the research methods that will be used to
collect relevant data from the target population who are insurance sales staff at
Ho Chi Minh Office.
 Chapter 4 will present results, findings of the primary data collected and
presentation of data.
 Similarly, chapter 5 will analyze the data and discuss how the results relate to
the literature.
 Finally, chapter 6 will conclude conclusion about the research, and provide
recommendations for further studies.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1


Introduction
There are many studies researched the motivational factors for sales staff at different
organizations, which may be the motivation for the sales staff in a particular
department within an organization. Overall, this studies mentioned factors such as
compensation, payment package, reward system, benefit, training and development,
work situation factors, leadership, relationship between sales staff and managers, and
so on.
Base on referring to available literatures in relation to the research question “How can
motivation impact on sales staff at Manulife Vietnam Company?” The purpose of
chapter two is investigate literatures in regards to determine factors affect to insurance
sales staff motivation at Manulife Vietnam. And this chapter was accomplished under
the following subheadings: Motivation, Concept of motivation, Conceptual
Framework, Compensation, Benefit, Taking care of managers, Promotion, Training.

2.2

Motivation
Motivation refers to “the reasons underlying behavior” (Guay et al., 2010, p. 712).
Paraphrasing Gredler, Broussard and Garrison (2004) broadly define motivation as
“the attribute that moves us to do or not to do something” (p. 106). Intrinsic
motivation is motivation that is animated by personal enjoyment, interest, or pleasure.
As Deci et al. (1999) observe, “intrinsic motivation energizes and sustains activities
through the spontaneous satisfactions inherent in effective volitional action. It is
manifest in behaviors such as play, exploration, and challenge seeking that people
often do for external rewards” (p. 658). Researchers often contrast intrinsic motivation
with extrinsic motivation, which is motivation governed by reinforcement
contingencies. Traditionally, educators consider intrinsic motivation to be more
desirable and to result in better learning outcomes than extrinsic motivation (Deci et
al., 1999).
Motivation involves a constellation of beliefs, perceptions, values, interests, and

actions that are all closely related. As a result, various approaches to motivation can
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focus on cognitive behaviors (such as monitoring and strategy use), non-cognitive
aspects (such as perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes), or both. For example, Gottfried
(1990) defines academic motivation as “enjoyment of school learning characterized by
a mastery orientation; curiosity; persistence; task-endogeny; and the learning of
challenging, difficult, and novel tasks” (p. 525). On the other hand, Turner (1995)
considers motivation to be synonymous with cognitive engagement, which he defines
as “voluntary uses of high-level self-regulated learning strategies, such as paying
attention, connection, planning, and monitoring” (p. 413).
Motivation is the word derived from the word “motive” which means needs, desires,
wants or drives within the individuals. It is the process of stimulating people to actions
to accomplish the goals. In the work goal context the psychological factors stimulating
the people’s behavior can be -desire for recognition, success, money, job-satisfaction,
team work, etc.
One of the most important functions of management is to create willingness amongst
the sales staff to perform in the best of their abilities. Therefore the role of a leader is
to arouse interest in performance of sales staff in their jobs. The process of
motivation consists of three stages: A felt need or drive, A stimulus in which needs
have to be aroused, When needs are satisfied, the satisfaction or accomplishment of
goals.
Therefore, we can say that motivation is a psychological phenomenon which means
needs and wants of the individuals have to be tackled by framing an incentive plan.
Effectively motivating sales staff has long been one of management's most important
and challenging duties. Motivation refers to the psychological processes that stimulate
excitement and persistence of voluntary actions aimed at some goal. Because

motivation can be highly individualized, managers use a wide range of techniques to
keep their sales staff motivated and happy. Therefore, it is essential for managers to
understand the psychological processes involved in motivation so that they can
effectively direct sales staff towards organizational goals.
Motivation results from the interaction of both conscious and unconscious factors such

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as the (1) intensity of desire or need, (2) incentive or reward value of the goal, and (3)
expectations of the individual and of his or her peers. These factors are the reasons
one has for behaving a certain way.
2.3

Concept of Motivation
There are many motivation theories, each of which attempts to describe what human
beings are and what human beings can become. However, Abraham Maslow's needs
theory is the theory peaked in identifying the needs of human nature in general. So far,
there is no better alternative theory of how this theory although there are also plenty of
"candidate" intend to replace. Abraham Maslow's theory, natural needs of human
beings are divided into different hierarchies from the "bottom" up to "peak",
reflecting the "base" of it for the existence and development of people as a natural
creature, both as a social entity. Maslow’s Theory
The psychologist Abraham Maslow developed a theory that suggests we, humans, are
motivated to satisfy five basic needs. These needs are arranged in a hierarchy. Maslow
suggests that we seek first to satisfy the lowest level of needs. Once this is done, we
seek to satisfy each higher level of need until we have satisfied all five needs.
While modern research shows some shortcomings with this theory, Maslow’s

Hierarchy of Needs Theory remains an important and simple motivation tool for
managers to understand and apply. The Hierarchy of Needs is as follows:

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1.

Physiological Needs (basic issues of survival such as salary and stable

employment)
2.

Safety Needs (stable physical and emotional environment issues such as

benefits, pension, safe work environment, and fair work practices)
3.

Social Needs (social acceptance issues such as friendship or cooperation on

the job)
4.

Esteem Need (positive self-image and respect and recognition issues such as

job titles, nice work spaces, and prestigious job assignments.)
5.


Self-Actualization Needs (achievement issues such as workplace autonomy,

challenging work, and subject matter expert status on the job)
How to Apply Maslow’s Theory to the Workplace.
With Maslow’s theory, an employee’s beginning emphasis on the lower order needs
of physiology and security makes sense. Generally, a person beginning their career
will be very concerned with physiological needs such as adequate wages and stable
income and security needs such as benefits and a safe work environment. We all want
a good salary to meet the needs of our family and we want to work in a stable
environment.
1. Physiological Needs
Abraham Maslow realized that people need to deal with the survival needs before they
move on to any other level of needs. If they do not have the necessary food, clothing,
water, shelter — or comparable elements to survive — they are not likely to be
concerned about learning new skills to qualify them for future jobs. In the workplace,
simple things like snacks, clean water (such as that from the water-cooler) and coffee
will go a long way in meeting your sales staff’ basic physiological needs.
2. Safety Needs
To address this level of the hierarchy, you must consider physical as well as
psychological safety and security. As a supervisor you can do common sense things

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like make sure that the environment contains no safety hazards. You can also provide
mental security by explaining how to become more effective and efficient in the
workplace, helping them feel safer in their position with the company.
Sales staff whose lowest level needs have not been met will make job decisions based

on compensation, safety, or stability concerns. Also, sales staff will revert to satisfying
their lowest level needs when these needs are no longer met or are threatened (such as
during an economic downturn).
This places an extra obligation on managers to act humanely when difficult
organizational decisions such as staff reductions have to be implemented. Callous
implementation of difficult decisions will cause the remaining sales staff in the
organization to feel threatened about the ability or desire of the organization to
continue to meet their physiological and security needs.

3. Social Needs
This level of Maslow’s theory deals with love, acceptance, friendship, and
companionship. As a supervisor, you can address the need that many people have to
socialize and feel part of a group by creating a work environment that harbors
opportunities for participation and interaction with others. Start networking sessions
before or after work. Happy hour can be a fun networking time — and it doesn’t need
to be at a bar. It could be at Starbucks or a restaurant.
Once these basic needs are met, the employee will want his “belongingness” (or
social) needs met. The level of social interaction an employee desires will vary based
on whether the employee is an introvert or extrovert. The key point is that sales staff
desire to work in an environment where they are accepted in the organization and have
some interaction with others.
This means effective interpersonal relations are necessary. Managers can create an
environment where staff cooperation is rewarded. This will encourage interpersonal
effectiveness.
Ongoing managerial communication about operational matters is also an important
component of meeting employee’s social needs. Sales staff who are “kept in the dark”
about operational matters and the future plans of the organization often feel like they
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are an organizational outsider. (This last point is especially important for virtual sales
staff whose absence from the office puts an extra obligation on managers to keep these
sales staff engaged in organizational communications.)

4. Esteem Needs
At this point of Maslow’s hierarchy, the focus shifts to the personal ego; self-respect,
achievement and receiving recognition for efforts given. Sales staff want to be
respected and appreciated by their coworkers and their bosses. In a learning
environment, you can address this need by deferring to someone’s expertise or
knowledge, recognizing accomplishments, and otherwise providing an environment
where learners can feel the satisfaction of having others applaud accomplishments.
You can also build in little accolades during training in which participants cheer or
applaud the efforts of someone who accomplishes something, offers a solution, or
otherwise does something worthy or group recognition. A simple round of applause
for a good response might be appropriate from time-to-time to meet this need.

5. Self-Actualization
Think of the Army slogan of “Be all you can be”. The premise was “Join us and we
will provide you with the tools and support you need to reach your maximum
potential.” To this effect, as a supervisor, it’s important that you identify where your
sales staff hope to go as it relates to the level of achievement in your company and
help them get there.
The key to successfully applying Maslow’s theory in the workplace is to remember
that what motivates one employee does not necessarily motivate another.
With these needs satisfied, an employee will want his higher level needs of esteem and
self-actualization met. Esteem needs are tied to an employee’s image of himself and
his desire for the respect and recognition of others.
Even if an individual does not want to move into management, he probably does not

want to do the same exact work for 20 years. He may want to be on a project team,
complete a special task, learn other tasks or duties, or expand his duties in some
manner.
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Cross-training, job enrichment, and special assignments are popular methods for
making work more rewarding. Further, allowing sales staff to participate in decision
making on operational matters is a powerful method for meeting an employee’s
esteem needs. Finally, symbols of accomplishment such as a meaningful job title, job
perks, awards, a nice office, business cards, work space, etc. are also important to an
employee’s esteem.
The important consideration for managers is that they must provide rewards to their
sales staff that both come from the organization and from doing the work itself.
Rewards need to be balanced to have a maximum effect.
With self-actualization, the employee will be interested in growth and individual
development. He will also need to be skilled at what he does. He may want a
challenging job, an opportunity to complete further education, increased freedom from
supervision, or autonomy to define his own processes for meeting organizational
objectives. At this highest level, managers focus on promoting an environment where
an employee can meet his own self-actualization needs.
2.4

Conceptual Framework
The below framework shows the key factors affect to insurance sales staff motivation
by applying Maslow’s theory. Based on the framework, the Management of Manulife
Vietnam can determine the necessary factors of motivation that impact effectively on
insurance sales staff’ productivity in order to carry out their tasks and excess the

Target:

Compensation: This is providing input for insurance sales staff. Compensation
becomes a motivation only when it meets the physical needs for sales staff, giving
them peace of mind about their earnings.
Benefit: At Manulife Vietnam, insurance sales staff receive many rewards in addition
to the commission regime from supporting the sales tools (Ipads or laptops), telephone
bill, bonus for elite sales staff, bonus for agency recruiting and team building, bonus
for agency leaders, travel programs in many countries, pension, etc.
Promotion: This is recognizing members for excellent contributions, and upgrade to

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next level to meet esteem needs.
Training and coaching: This is training about new skills, knowledge and attitudes that
will improve on their works, in order to develop professional career to meet selfactualization needs
Taking care of manager: this is taking care of agent leaders and sales managers for
insurance sales staff regarding their tasks to meet social needs.
.
2.4.1

Compensation
The reviews of literatures have shown that salary benefits related to attitude, and
performance of sales staff. Therefore, the salary is a popular topic when researching
the issues related to the satisfaction of the sales staff.
According to Imrab Shaheen, Mushtaq A.Sajid, Qudsia Batool (2013), he carry out
organizations focus on incentives and reward policies including salary benefit for

getting better performance of their sales staff because rewards and incentives affect the
motivational level of the sales staff. Many sales staff thought that they received less
salary as compare the work they done. Beside, their salary was not sufficient to meet
the finance needs of their family. So they thought that their present salary should be
improved.
As Sarah O. Akali mentioned (2010), salary is a key factor affecting motivation and
performance of the sales staff. The insurance sales staff can-not help comparing their
salary with the work they do and their contemporaries. It can only motivate if viewed
as commensurate to the work done and fairly close to that of contemporaries in other
professions. A clear job analysis, description and evaluation would help the sales staff
come up with an acceptable and harmonized salary package to satisfy these sales staff
and motivate them to higher performance

2.4.2

Benefit
According to Yiming Yang (2015), this thesis analyzes different types of
compensation influence the motivation. The results show that no compensation
negatively influences employee’s motivation and all compensation types have a
positive impact on motivation. Monetary compensations are increased compensation,
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bonuses, sales campaigns, restricted stock. It is important for employers to use fair and
justifiable compensation, especially monetary compensation, for individual sales staff.
the category of non-monetary compensation is divided into three different types: 1)
holiday/flexible time, 2) tangible non-monetary compensation (e.g. Flower, Dinner,
coupon, etc.) that use “gift” for short and 3) other non-monetary compensation (e.g.

recognition, promotional opportunities, praise, etc.) that covers all non-monetary
compensation not mentioned in category 1 and 2 and are mostly intangible
compensation.
2.4.3

Promotion
As Sarah O. Akalian (2010), she noted that the major factors affecting motivation and
performance of the trainers, one of them is promotion at the work place. Trainers
would be more motivated if their position was upgrade. This is a long way in
motivating and improving the performance. Promotion should be handled well so that
trainers do not stay in one grade for too long and the criterion of merit would yield
better results than automatic mass promotion that lacks individual recognition of a
trainer's effort.
The study of Teresa Kemunto Nyakundi (2012), also found that many sales staff
indicated that perceived promotional opportunity where else influences job
satisfaction. Lack of promotion opportunities, sales staff had poor work attitudes.

2.4.4

Training and coaching
The finding of Greenwich University (2013) showed that there is a significant
relationship between receiving training of sales staff and challenging work. The
manager mentioned that colleagues had opportunities to move up the career leader
further such as they have the opportunity to become the area manager. On the other
hand, sales staff confirmed that providing quality training to support their skills as an
employee that helps me increase my capabilities/ productivity”. However, other sales
staff liked more in-house training to develop myself.
With Sarah O. Akalian (2010), training affects motivation and performance in that
results showed that when training was recognized by the employer in form of perks or
higher grades, subjects were motivated and performed better. With the sales staff'


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acknowledgement

of

availability

of

opportunities

for

staff

development,

communication of these opportunities to trainers and granting them study leave to
pursue them would enhance their motivation and performance.
As Igara Growers (2010), he noted that high productivity depends on the level of
motivation and effectiveness of the workforce. The staff training is indispensable
strategy for motivating sales staff. A high quality employment relationship is of great
importance for both sales staff and firms. Therefore, firms need to invest in staff
training. And staff training is an important instrument for increasing productivity of
sales staff and hence the quality of the match. In this competitive world, training is

economically meaningful and investment in training is efficient. Training has led to
increased competence thus improving sales staff. That training expresses new skills,
knowledge and attitudes that will improve on its performance thus enhancing high
productivity and profits within the organization. In many organizations, training
promote culture of excellence and competence in that when it is effectively conducted
it will outcompete the external environment and also competitiveness against the sales
staff thus enhancing high levels of performance

2.4.5

Taking care of Managers
The study of Greenwich University (2013) showed that the managers need to respect
sales staff’ work instead of complaining about the works what they done. Managers
also had to give positive feedback than negative sometime. This was expressing about
taking care of managers. And the sales staff wanted to increase their relationship with
some of the managers. The results were the sales staff thought that they had a friendly
environment. It made motivation to work for them.
In study of Caroline Njambi Gichure (2014), she note that a good managerial relation
is an important factor in fostering employee motivation. Those who act to maintain
good relations with their sales staff exhibit the following behaviors: help with job
related problems, awareness of employee difficulties, good communication, and
regular feed-back about the performance so that sales staff always know where they
stand. Sales staff want to have input into decisions that affect them, to feel important
and appreciated. They want to be informed and involved at work place. When a job
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brings recognition and respect, sales staff are motivated with it. This is an easy

condition to create with feedback. All things belong to the leadership. It indicated that
the leadership style of managers within the organization affects employee motivation
levels.

2.5

The Gap in Literature
Although literature reviews mentioned about the factors that affect the motivation for
sales staff, so that sales staff feel a strong motivation to work and engage with the
organization for long term, but target people in each research refers to the different
jobs, in different department, in different organizations, and in each organization has
the different remuneration benefits for sales staff, so it can

be the same a

motivational factor, but this organization is important, while other organizations do
not.
Thus, the purpose of reference from topic researches is only finding the most relevant
factors to the researcher can identify the factors that motivate insurance sales staff at
Manulife Vietnam Company. From there, it helps Manulife Vietnam make sales
strategy
2.6

Conclusion
In conclusion, based on literature reviews in this chapter, the authors has identified the
importance of motivation for sales staff. Since then, it helps them work with long-term
commitment in organization. Beside, each literature review examines the motivational
factors to justify the motivational theories that the author mentioned. Literature
reviews gave a variety of motivational factors, but in general, we have two types of
motivational factors, one was related to monetary benefits and one was related to nonmonetary benefits. The authors also make the limits of the research process. And they

also give recommendations for the next researches regarding topics that researchers
should do to be more complete. By studying in this field, it will provide more
knowledge and better understanding level about motivation theories for sales staff. So
that, it can make the motivational factors for insurance sales staff and it is really
suitable for the current situation of the Manulife Vietnam. Then sales staff are more
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committed, and peace of mind when working at Manulife Vietnam.
And the next chapter will present the required methodology that will be used to
conduct research.

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CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
AND DATA COLLECTION METHOD
3.1

Introduction
Research is an academic activity and as such the term should be used in a technical
sense. According to Clifford Woody research comprises defining and redefining
problems, formulating hypothesis or suggested solutions; collecting, organising and
evaluating data; making deductions and reaching conclusions; and at last carefully
testing the conclusions to determine whether they fit the formulating hypothesis. D.
Slesinger and M. Stephenson in the Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences define research

as “the manipulation of things, concepts or symbols for the purpose of generalizing to
extend, correct or verify knowledge, whether that knowledge aids in construction of
theory or in the practice of an art.”3 Research is, thus, an original contribution to the
existing stock of knowledge making for its advancement. It is the persuit of truth with
the help of study, observation, comparison and experiment. In short, the search for
knowledge through objective and systematic method of finding solution to a problem
is research. The systematic approach concerning generalization and the formulation of
a theory is also research. As such the term ‘research’ refers to the systematic method 1
The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English, Oxford, 1952, p. 1069. 2 L.V.
Redman and A.V.H. Mory, The Romance of Research, 1923, p.10. 3 The
Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences, Vol. IX, MacMillan, 1930. 2 Research
Methodology consisting of enunciating the problem, formulating a hypothesis,
collecting the facts or data, analyzing the facts and reaching certain conclusions either
in the form of solutions(s) towards the concerned problem or in certain generalizations
for some theoretical formulation
Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It may
be understood as a science of studying how research is done scientifically. In it we
study the various steps that are generally adopted by a researcher in studying his
research problem along with the logic behind them. It is necessary for the researcher
to know not only the research methods/techniques but also the methodology.
Researchers not only need to know how to develop certain indices or tests, how to
calculate the mean, the mode, the median or the standard deviation or chi-square, how
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to apply particular research techniques, but they also need to know which of these
methods or techniques, are relevant and which are not, and what would they mean and
indicate and why. Researchers also need to understand the assumptions underlying

various techniques and they need to know the criteria by which they can decide that
certain techniques and procedures will be applicable to certain problems and others
will not. All this means that it is necessary for the researcher to design his
methodology for his problem as the same may differ from problem to problem.
The purpose of chapter three is describing the procedures that were used in this study
to collect and analyze the data. This chapter will evaluate the chosen sample for
research investigation, which consists of research design, target population, sample
design, research instruments, validity and reliability, and data analysis. Besides, it
includes ethical considerations. Firstly, this chapter will discuss the research design
because it allows researcher to examine the detail worked plan base on framework.
3.2.

Research design
A research design is not just a work plan. A work plan details what has to be done to
complete the work plan will flow from the project's research design. The function of a
research design is to ensure that the obtained evidence enables us to answer the initial
question as unambiguously as possible. Obtaining relevant evidence entails specifying
the type of evidence needed to answer the research question, to test a theory, to
evaluate a program or to accurately describe some phenomenon (Dr. Ahmad Shahrul
Nizam, 2015).
Research design is different from the method by which data are collected. Many
research methods texts confuse research designs with methods. It is not uncommon to
see research design treated as a mode of data collection rather than as a logical
structure of the inquiry. But there is nothing intrinsic about any research design that
requires a particular method of data collection. Although cross-sectional surveys are
frequently equated with questionnaires and case studies are often equated with
participant observation (e.g. Whyte's Street Corner Society, 1943), data for any design
can be collected with any data collection method. How the data are collected is
irrelevant to the logic of the design.
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This design would be useful in investigating the relationship between the
Compensation, Benefit, Taking care of manager, Promotion, Training and sales staff
motivation.
3.3.

Target population
A research population is generally a large collection of individuals or objects that is the
main focus of a scientific query. It is for the benefit of the population that researches
are done. However, due to the large sizes of populations, researchers often cannot test
every individual in the population because it is too expensive and time- consuming.
According to Wilson Mizner (2016), a research population is also known as a welldefined collection of individuals or objects known to have similar characteristics. All
individuals or objects within a certain population usually have a common, binding
characteristic or trait. Target population refers to the entire group of individuals or
objects to which researchers are interested in generalizing the conclusions. The target
population usually has varying characteristics and it is also known as the theoretical
population. The target population for study was all insurance sales staff in Ho Chi
Minh Office. There are 500 insurance sales staff in Ho Chi Minh Office.

3.4.

Sample design
A sample is simply a subset of the population. The concept of sample arises from the
inability of the researchers to test all the individuals in a given population. The sample
must be representative of the population from which it was drawn and it must have
good size to warrant statistical analysis. The main function of the sample is to allow
the researchers to conduct the study to individuals from the population. So that the

results of their study can be used to derive conclusions that will apply to the entire
population. It is much like a give-and-take process. The population “gives” the
sample, and then it “takes” conclusions from the results obtained from the sample.
(Wilson Mizner, 2016)
A sample is expected to mirror the population from which it comes, however, there is
no guarantee that any sample will be precisely representative of the population.
Chance may dictate that a disproportionate number of untypical observations will be
made.
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Sampling is the process of selecting a number of individuals for a study in such a way
that the individuals represent the large group from which they were selected. All
insurance sales staff in the Ho Chi Minh Office were studied. Simple random
sampling technique was used to sample. The advantages was easy to conduct, high
probability of achieving a representative sample and, it meets assumptions of many
statistical procedures. According to Uma Sekaran in Research Method for Business
4th Edition, Roscoe (1975) proposed the rules of thumb for determining sample size
where sample size larger than 30 and less than 500 are appropriate for most research,
and the minimum size of sample should be 30% of the population. A total 150
respondents were targeted by the study. In this case, the samples collected being 30%
of insurance sales staff at Ho Chi Minh Office. There were 100 insurance sales staff
responded giving a response rate of 100%.

Sampling was shown in Table 3.1
Number of
Target Population


Insurance

Size of

Sales staff

Samples

Sales staff in Ho Chi Minh
500
30%
Office
Table 3.1. Sample size of study

3.5.

Total Samples

150 sales staff

Research instrument
In the study, the researcher ensured that the chosen instruments for data collection is
suitable and appropriate. Therefore, questionnaire was used as instrument for data
collection.
A questionnaire is a mean of eliciting the feelings, beliefs, experiences, perceptions, or
attitudes of some samples of individuals. As a data collecting instrument, it could be
structured or unstructured.
According to James P. Key (1997), the questionnaire is most frequently a very

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concise, pre-planned set of questions designed to yield specific information to meet a
particular need for research information about a pertinent topic. The research
information is attained from respondents normally from a related interest area. A clearer
definition: A questionnaire is a written or printed form used in gathering information
on some subject or subjects consisting of a list of questions to be submitted to one or
more persons.
It has many advantages such as economy, uniformity of questions, standardization.
About economy, expense and time involved in the interviewers and sending them to
insurance sales staff are reduced. About uniformity of questions, each respondent
receives the same set of questions phrased in exactly the same way. Questionnaires
may, therefore, yield data more comparable than information obtained through a
respondent. About standardization, if the questions are highly structured and the
conditions under which they are answered are controlled, then the questionnaire could
become standardized.
The questionnaires were divided into different sections where section A contained
data on the background information of the respondents, section B contained items on
Compensation information, section C contained items on Benefit information, section
D contained items on Taking care of manager information, section E contained
questions on promotion information, and section F contained items on training
information. Likert scale was used in questions which were testing on the degree of
the respondents’ agreement with particular variables of the study.
The researcher distributed the questionnaires to the selected insurance sales staff and
gave them thirty minutes to respond. The respondents had thirty minutes to finish
questionnaire.
Personally, the researcher had to show the research instrument for both the pilot and
the main study to the insurance sales staff at the Ho Chi Minh Office on the agreed

date. The researcher gave instructions on how to fill the questionnaires, gave
respondents time to fill them. After two weeks the respondents returned back the
questionnaire and depending on their response analysis had been made. Secondary
data such as use of sales reports and on webs was incorporated.

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