Job satisfaction and commission compensation among department store sales associates

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a difference in the job satisfaction of department store sales associates who work on a commission compensation plan as compared to those who do not. The Job Descriptive Index (JDI) and a demographic profile were completed by 157 sales associates employed at a department store chain located in the southeastern United States. The majority of the respondents were between the ages of eighteen and thirty, had attended college, had been employed by the store for less than one year, and were employed full-time by the company. A three-way ANOVA was used to test for differences within the commission and the non-commission groups. Overall, there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups. Subjects scored below the established scores for satisfaction on all six dimensions of the JDI. However, when compensation plan was combined with other factors, such as length of time on present compensation plan and full-time or part-time employment status, differences did exist. Data analysis revealed that commission associates who had worked on their present compensation plan a year or longer scored higher on the JDI dimensions "work" and "supervision". The part-time associates who were paid a commission and the part-time associates who had worked on their present compensation plan for a year or longer scored higher on the JDI dimension "co-workers". The findings indicate that only when commission compensation interacts with other factors of the job does it make a difference in the job satisfaction of the sales associates.