Titel: Thinking outside the box: Goals and Salary boxes as motivational factors Authors: Anna Ceder and  Karin Barwinger Plogare Seat of Learning: Uppsala University Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate if the imposition of salary boxes in Uppsala municipality has had any influence on the organisation’s employees’ to improve their work motivation. The reason for the study was to look deeper into employees’ motivational factors, this with a focus on salary as motivational factor in structures of salary boxes where it is possible for the employee to work towards goals which affect their salary. The primary purpose of the study was to look into if employees’ ability to advance their performance had any connection to the impostion of salary boxes. Methodology: In order to collect as much data as possible for the measurements one of the largest occupational groups in Uppsala municipality was chosen, which represents the group of pre-school teachers. In total there are 758 staff members in the professional group of pre-school teachers in Uppsala municipality who were all contacted to participate in the study through a survey questionnaire. The answers from the questionnaire were then tested and analyzed in forms of linear and binary regression analyses to check the significance of the independent variables both separetely with the dependent variable and all variables together in an attempt to identify the most significant motivational factor. Results: The results showed that the significant motivational factors for pre-school teatchers was the ones which represent organizational commitment and the goal setting theory. Keywords: Motivation, salary boxes, individual payment, individual salary, work motivation