Volunteer Motivation Research Articles

"It Shaped My Future in Ways I Wasn't Prepared for-in the Best Way Possible": Alumni Volunteers' Experiences in an Adapted Sports and Recreation Program.

Adapted sport participation can have many positive benefits for adults with disabilities. However, one barrier to implementing successful adapted sport programs is lack of knowledgeable volunteers who understand accessibility and disability. In fact, little is known about volunteers' experiences in adapted sport programs. The purpose of this study was to retrospectively examine experiences of able-bodied volunteers in an adapted sport program. A sample of 105 able-bodied volunteers (Mage = 24.28 ± 1.93) completed an online qualitative survey to share their experiences. Data were analyzed using qualitative thematic analysis, and seven main themes were identified. Results showed that despite differences in initial motives for volunteering, involvement in an adapted sport program was transformative and, for some, life changing. Able-bodied volunteers experienced a wide range of benefits including deeper understanding and awareness of disability and inclusion in sport. Practical recommendations are provided for volunteer-based adapted sport program leaders.

Scientists’ attitudes about citizen science at Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites

A profound transformation, in recent decades, is promoting shifts in the ways ecological science is produced and shared; as such, ecologists are increasingly encouraged to engage in dialogues with multiple stakeholders and in transdisciplinary research. Among the different forms of public engagement, citizen science (CS) has significant potential to support science-society interactions with mutual benefits. While many studies have focused on the experience and motivations of CS volunteers, scarce literature investigating the perspectives of researchers is available. The main purpose of this paper is to better understand scientists’ attitudes about CS in the context of its potential to support outcomes that extent beyond more traditional ones focused on promoting science knowledge and interest. We surveyed the scientific community belonging to the International Long-Term Ecological Research (ILTER) network because ILTER is of interest to multiple stakeholders and occurs over long time scales. Via an online questionnaire, we asked ILTER scientists about their willingness to participate in different types of public engagement, their reasons for participating in CS, the associated barriers, and any impacts of these efforts on them. Our findings show that many ILTER scientists are open to participating in CS for a wide range of reasons; the dominant ones involve deeper public engagement and collaboration. The barriers of greatest concern of these respondents were the lack of institutional support to start and run a CS project and the difficulty of establishing long-term stable relationships with the public. They reported impacts of CS activities on how they pursue their work and acknowledged the benefit of opportunities to learn from the public. The emerging picture from this research is of a community willing and actively involved in many CS projects for both traditional reasons, such as data gathering and public education, and expanded reasons that activate a real two-way cooperation with the public. In the ILTER community, CS may thus become an opportunity to promote and develop partnerships with citizens, helping to advance the science-society interface and to rediscover and enhance the human and social dimension of the scientific work.

The stated preferences of community-based volunteers for roles in the prevention of violence against women and girls in Ghana: A discrete choice analysis

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a human rights violation with substantial health-related consequences. Interventions to prevent VAWG, often implemented at the community level by volunteers, have been proven effective and cost-effective. One such intervention is the Rural Response System in Ghana, a volunteer-run program which hires community based action teams (COMBATs) to sensitise the community about VAWG and to provide counselling services in rural areas. To increase programmatic impact and maximise the retention of these volunteers, it is important to understand their preferences for incentives.We conducted a discrete choice experiment (DCE) among 107 COMBAT volunteers, in two Ghanaian districts in 2018, to examine their stated preferences for financial and non-financial incentives that could be offered in their roles. Each respondent answered 12 choice tasks, and each task comprised four hypothetical volunteering positions. The first three positions included different levels of five role attributes. The fourth option was to cease volunteering as a COMBAT volunteer (opt-out).We found that, overall, COMBAT volunteers cared most for receiving training in volunteering skills and three-monthly supervisions. These results were consistent between multinomial logit, and mixed multinomial logit models. A three-class latent class model fitted our data best, identifying subgroups of COMBAT workers with distinct preferences for incentives: The younger ‘go getters’; older ‘veterans’, and the ‘balanced bunch’ encompassing the majority of the sample. The opt-out was chosen only 4 (0.3%) times.Only one other study quantitatively examined the preferences for incentives of VAWG-prevention volunteers using a DCE (Kasteng et al., 2016). Understanding preferences and how they vary between sub-groups can be leveraged by programme managers to improve volunteer motivation and retention. As effective VAWG-prevention programmes are scaled up from small pilots to the national level, data on volunteer preferences may be useful in improving volunteer retention.

Towards a better understanding of volunteer engagement: self-determined motivations, self-expression needs and co-creation outcomes

PurposeNon-profit organizations (NPO) contribute significantly to the welfare of citizens and communities. Engagement in volunteering is crucial for sustaining volunteer motivation and for the effective and efficient functioning of NPO, with significant implications for society at large. Yet, literature on volunteer engagement (VE) is limited to date. Grounded on service-dominant logic, self-congruity theory and self-determination theory, this study aims to understand what motivates VE and how it may evolve into a co-creation process valuable to NPO and its stakeholders.Design/methodology/approachBased on survey data collected from 450 volunteers, working with a diverse set of NPO, a comprehensive model of drivers and outcomes of VE was empirically tested using PLS-SEM, considering the mediating role of volunteers' congruence with the core values of the NPO.FindingsThe impact of volunteers' perceived autonomy, competence and relatedness on VE and its subsequent role in volunteers' loyalty and extra-role engagement behaviors (i.e. co-development, influencing and mobilizing behaviors) were validated. Moreover, the study validates value congruence as an internalizing mediating mechanism in the engagement process, a role that has been implied but not empirically tested.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the engagement and volunteering literature, which despite an unprecedented parallel have developed almost independently, with limited reference to one another. As the nomological network of VE is still underexplored, the study extends the engagement literature to the volunteering sector, validating the key (but underexplored) role of self-determination needs and value congruence in driving VE and value co-creation behaviors. The study further adds to engagement research while addressing other actors' engagement beyond the customer–brand dyad. While adopting a seldom explored marketing perspective of VE, this study provides NPO valuable insights on how to manage and engage volunteers.

Assessing the impacts of conservation volunteering on participant wellbeing:a systematic review protocol.

Background: Volunteers and citizen scientists have become an essential element of most nature conservation and restoration activities due to lack of resources but also due to the wish to engage and interact with local communities where conservation activities take place. Environmental or conservation volunteering is also considered to be a key resource in achieving much needed, ambitious nature restoration programs. Practical conservation work and various forms of environmental enhancement along with recreational and therapeutic use of natural or green and blue spaces have been studied for some time. The value of volunteers and the work is widely acknowledged but few studies have been carried out on the impacts of participating on the volunteers themselves. Using this protocol, a study will be undertaken to assess how impacts of participation have been assessed and reported in the literature; what these reported impacts are; how these are related to reported barriers and motivations for volunteering and whether they are affected by the region or country of study. Methods: This paper will identify studies that have described and assessed impacts of conservation and restoration volunteering on participants at an individual level, with a specific focus on physical, mental or societal wellbeing of individuals. Representative studies were sought from major search engines and relevant stakeholder publications, including both peer-reviewed and 'grey literature' in predominantly English language publications, published between 2000 and 2020. A priori inclusion criteria consisted of those publications and reports on studies with volunteer and community participants and which described impacts of, motivations for and barriers to participation. After a critical appraisal, a total of 105 articles were selected for further analysis to provide a narrative and mixed methods synthesis of the evidence base.

Specifics of motivation of volunteers participating in in a clinical trial of the COVID-19 vaccine

Background . The pandemic coronavirus infection has contributed to the development of effective preventive methods to slow the spread of the virus. Mass vaccination is the only way to protect oneself from infection. The development of drugs, including vaccines, involves clinical trials (CT). The problem of conducting a CT is recruiting the necessary number of volunteers. Goal : to identify specifics of motivation of patients participating in the clinical trial of COVID-19 vaccines, as it is a very important medical and sociological issue requiring more detailed study. Materials and Methods . The results of an anonymous questionnaire survey of volunteers participating in the “EpiVacCorona” vaccine CT are presented. Overall, 203 questionnaires were analyzed, containing 19 questions answered by the residents of Kaliningrad, aged 20 to 84 years. At the stage of completion of participation in the clinical trial, information was obtained about the respondent’s attitudes to the trial, the main factors of motivation or demotivation to participate, the degree of their trust in the trial. Results . Information disseminated through the employer was an effective way to organize patient recruitment for the vaccine CT; the effectiveness of using the media was quite low. The positives of participation in the CT for volunteers were ethical considerations. Negatives for participants were the risks associated with adverse reactions or receiving a placebo. Relatives had the greatest influence on the volunteers’ decision to participate in the CT, and medical professionals, media personalities, and scientists had less influence. Conclusion . The results will help to improve patient recruitment, patient awareness of the CT, and the benefits to medicine and society. Motivating and demotivating factors will improve patient recruitment.

Engagement of Healthcare Professionals in Voluntary Activities During COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: The coming various disasters, especially probable pandemics, will need a large number of volunteers with different capabilities. Motivation of volunteers, as a driving force, will be very important for future pandemic disaster planning. The aim of this study was to determine the enablers and barriers to the engagement of healthcare professionals in voluntary activities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
 Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the General Internal Medicine Departments of Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex in Tehran, Iran. A 44-item questionnaire was designed based on the Literature Review and Experts Panel. Items were scored on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from “strongly disagree (1)” to “strongly agree (5)”. Content validity and face validity of the questionnaire were checked by 10 experts and 10 respondents, respectively. Cronbach’s alpha of the items of stimulating and inhibitory factors’ section was calculated 0.83 and 0.92, respectively. A self-administrated paper-based questionnaire has been distributed among healthcare team members. 
 Results: Out of 105 health care professionals, 80 (76.2%) were female and 41 (39%) were married. The most significant demographic predictor of willingness to volunteering was having no child (p-value=0.001). History of infection, admission, or death of family members or friends in the current pandemic was an important factor to reduce the desire to voluntary activities significantly (p-value=0.019). Depressive disorders and using antidepressants had no relation with the attraction to volunteering, but anxiety disorders had a significant relation with the willingness to be a volunteer (p-value=0.04).
 Conclusion: The most important demographic variables influencing the unwillingness to participate in voluntary activities during the COVID-19 crisis are parenting role, history of anxiety disorders, and history of hospitalization or death of relatives or friends. Furthermore, the voluntary participation of healthcare professionals is influenced by facilitating factors such as giving rewards, reducing the period of obligatory military service, having a sense of altruism, and helping others.

Different motivations for volunteering are associated with different outcomes for Australian animal welfare volunteers: a mixed-methods analysis

ABSTRACT Objective Inspired by the important role volunteers play in Australian society, the current study examined the relationship between different motivations for volunteering and different outcomes experienced by animal welfare volunteers. Method An anonymous, self-report questionnaire was completed online by 278 volunteers (84.53% female; M age = 45.19 years, SD = 18.13) of a large state-wide animal welfare organisation. A latent profile analysis was conducted with data collected using the Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI), and interpreted alongside a thematic analysis of qualitative responses. Results Three groups of participants were identified, characterised by different prominent motivations to volunteer: personal values (values-driven group); personal values and personal growth (personal-gain group); and personal values, personal growth, and career-related factors (experience-oriented group). Values-driven volunteers experienced both pleasure and stress from the enactment of values-driven behaviour, and experienced increased opportunity for socialisation. Personal-gain volunteers experienced increased opportunity for socialisation and increased sense of purpose. Experience-oriented volunteers derived pleasure from enacting personal values, and increased opportunity to gain experience in animal-care. Conclusions Motivations for volunteering are complex and multifaceted. The current findings highlight how motivationally congruent volunteering behaviours can be associated with a range of positive outcomes for volunteers.

‘The Times They Are A-Changin’: the shifting motivations for volunteering in rural Wide Bay–Burnett Queensland

ABSTRACT This article explores why volunteers are motivated to make significant social contributions, either informally through personal interactions, or formally within rural healthcare organisations. Volunteerism is a form of civic engagement includes a variety of service, collective action, political involvement, and social change efforts by citizens to improve conditions for others or work towards shaping the civic sphere. The latest Federal Government Indicators show a 2% decline in formal volunteering rates. Thus, the implications for rural communities are problematic. Using the Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI), we surveyed volunteers at a rural voluntary organisation and found trends for volunteer types, based on demographic factors and volunteer motivations. A key finding was that altruistic motivations were the strongest motivator for these rural Wide Bay–Burnett Queensland volunteers.

Embracing Ecological Spirituality: An Exploration of Volunteer Motivations

This study delves into the relationship between volunteer motivations among 111 students and the core values of ecological spirituality and volunteerism. Through a survey and thematic analysis, a connection emerges between the students’ motivations for volunteering and the foundational principles of ecological spirituality and volunteerism. Notably, motivations such as personal fulfillment, positive impact creation, and a sense of duty to others resonate with the principles of service, compassion, unity, interconnectedness, gratitude, personal growth, and the well-being of fellow beings. These findings underscore the role played by ecological spirituality and volunteerism in shaping the students’ decision to engage in volunteer activities, illuminating how these values contribute to their sense of fulfillment and satisfaction in community service. Additionally, this study evaluates the students’ contentment with their motivations, revealing an overall satisfaction rate of 83.78%, thus emphasizing the impact of embracing ecological spirituality in volunteerism on their satisfaction levels.

Особенности мотивации волонтеров разного возраста

The aim of presented empirical research is the revealing specifics of volunteers' motivation of different age (on the example of young and old age). We consider the main national and foreign works devoted to the study of volunteers' motivation of the elderly in detail. For older people volunteering is a significant activity, contributing to their inclusion in the changed society and development of communication. This topic is relevant, as there are few works devoted to elderly volunteers in national psychology and most of them are made within the framework of sociological research. In research was attended by 40 respondents, including 20 volunteers of young age and 20 older volunteers. Methods of the study: motivational personality profile by S. Ritchie and P. Martin; O.F. Potemkina's test (altruism/egoism, process orientation/result); diagnostics of level of polycommunicative empathy (I.M. Yusupov); also the author's questionnaire for understanding activity and volunteering experience was developed. As research suggests motivation of volunteers of young age has an egoistic orientation and the following motives: material encouragement, variety and change, creativity. Motivation of elderly volunteers has altruistic orientation with following motives: empathy, useful and interesting work. This conclusion was confirmed by means of statistical processing of data by Mann–Whitney U-criterion. The results of the study can be used in psychological support of elderly volunteer activities, as well as for the involvement of young people in volunteer activities.

The Problem of Volunteer Motivation in Volunteering Management: A Sociological View

The article deals with the problems of analyzing the motivational component in the management systems of youth volunteering. The subject of the study is the totality of managerial relations that arise in the process of organizing the volunteer movement and the implementation of volunteer activities. The object of the study is the activities of volunteer, non-profit organizations. The problem lies in the possible outflow of volunteers after the first contact or event, without repeated or regular participation. It is important for managers and leaders of the voluntary sector to successfully involve young people in volunteer projects and develop their voluntary participation in the long term. The study of this issue will make it possible to form a holistic view of the significant aspects of the organization of the volunteer movement. The study is aimed at identifying existing approaches to motivating volunteers, finding the most effective ways to increase the level of volunteer motivation, developing tools to ensure a high level of motivation and involvement in projects of volunteer associations. To collect data on motivation in youth volunteering, the authors conducted a questionnaire survey, the participants of which were volunteers from Russian volunteer organizations based in higher educational institutions. The predominance of the non-material nature of the motivation of volunteers was revealed; a scale of motives was developed for testing volunteers and designing an individual route of volunteer experience in organizations. The unity and opposition of the types of volunteer participation in the concept of dual motivation of volunteers (altruism and selfishness) gives grounds for using a combined approach that takes into account various motives for participation.

Citizen science against the plastic soup: background, motivation and expectations of volunteers studying plastic pollution on Dutch riverbanks

In the field of investigating and addressing plastic pollution, the public is increasingly involved in research as citizen scientists. Long-term monitoring for this topic is needed, and recruiting and retaining volunteers is challenging. Therefore, it is important to learn more about the demographic background, motivations and expectations of involved citizen scientists, and if these change during participation. Our research studied these aspects of the citizen scientists in the Dutch Clean Rivers project, who monitor plastic pollution on riverbanks. Participants (n = 122) completed pre- and post-survey after one year of the project. While there was no gender bias, the participants were mostly middle-aged and highly educated, and almost half had previous experience with scientific research. Their motivation to participate was mostly activistic, as they wanted to tackle the source of plastic pollution and contribute to solutions. More personal motivations, such as wanting to learn more and because it is fun to do scientific research, decreased significantly after one year of participation. Their expectations were in line with the main motivations. Understanding the background, motivations and expectations of volunteers helps this project, and the field of citizen science in plastic pollution research.

“We are a society with high volunteering motivation”

Asst. Prof. Gamze Kağan made evaluations about the importance of being a disaster volunteer, which is seen as a conscientious responsibility and a duty of humanity.

Public Health Volunteers Perspective on Motivation: An Assessment by Spotlight on Africa Uganda Foundation

Low motivation among workers across various institutions is one of the main problems affecting performance of public health volunteers. This study was aimed at identifying key factors attributed to motivation among Public Health Volunteers (PHVs) in Bukasakya and Namabasa sub counties in Mbale District in Uganda. The level of motivation was assessed in relation to each attribute used to measure satisfaction. The study considered various attributes to motivation and performance of health volunteers. A descriptive survey design was used, a questionnaire was administered among 139 respondents most of which were the PHVs. A questionnaire with Likert scale was developed and administered to the respondents. The attributes of motivation were then categorized into personal and organizational attributes. For the qualitative component, participants with varied responses in quantitative data were selected and interviewed. This study underscores the significance of different attributes of motivation. The results revealed that 99% of respondents had attended school, 80.58% were very happy to be PHVs, 84 % reported improved quality of life, 69% exhibited confidence, although 87% were not sure to volunteer again for the next coming 7-10 when they were asked. Over 70% were satisfied with incentives provided and partly attributed their motivation to these incentives. Generally, the respondents were very happy with the working conditions in the organization, in Health the facilities and in the community. In an arrangement where health facilities involve health volunteers in the activities, there is need to consider their motivation, while framing administrative strategies and policy guidelines.

Examining the Factors Affecting the Voluntary Participation and Effects of Volunteering in the Child Welfare in Türkiye*

Volunteering is one factors that ensure the development of both individual and social development and social integration. However, participation in volunteering in Türkiye is relatively low, and research on the motivations of volunteers and the effect of volunteering is limited. Although considered one of the factors that will ensure the development of both individual and social development and social integration. Hence, this qualitative inquiry aimed to investigate the factors affecting participation and the effects of voluntary activities in multi-levels in Türkiye’s child welfare field. The study was carried out through in-depth interviews with 25 volunteers. The narratives were analyzed thematically, and two themes were identified including the motivations and effects of volunteering. These themes revealed the significance of understanding the motivations of volunteers at micro-mezzo-macro levels. The key findings suggest that individuals’ personal experiences, family, friends, and the community perspectives can affect their motivation to volunteer. In addition, while volunteering affects the individual biopsychosocial, it also affects societal views. Therefore, future research should be conducted on the importance of volunteering in various social services fields, including family, elderly, disabled, and women, to increase the understanding of volunteering and how it impacts the broader context.

Women’s thirty-year contribution to cheetah conservation: An insight into volunteer-based conservation program supported by female scientists

Women make up a small percentage of the scientific community, including conservation. Today, conservation efforts are vital for the survival of many species, however there is a gender bias within the conservation field. Encouraging more women into conservation could be a key to increasing efficiency and success in conservation goals of organizations and governments. Here we investigate the long running Earthwatch, working guest and intern volunteer programs of the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) to understand women’s involvement with volunteer based conservation, and questionnaire data to understand women’s contribution to conservation after volunteering and what challenges women face in conservation. Our results showed there was significantly more female volunteers than male volunteers (p-value <0.000) and on average, females contributed to 73.7% of the volunteer population annually. Volunteer’s age at time of volunteering varied between the three volunteer programs. Women’s motivations for volunteering and challenges that women face in conservation was dependent on the volunteers’ age. CCF’s holistic approach to conservation, volunteers’ love for cheetahs and ability to gain practical skills were the leading motivations why women volunteered with CCF. Many (87%) of the female interns said volunteering was a means of helping them gain employment. Women’s credibility, family responsibility and personal safety were the main challenges that women face working in conservation today. Addressing gender disparities in every stage of career progression will lead to overall improved conservation outcomes.

Everyday heroes: Graphical life stories and self-defining memories in COVID-19 medical volunteers.

ObjectiveThis study aimed to explore the autobiographical foundations of specific narrative identities, which made it possible to choose medical volunteering in the time of the pandemic, resist highly hazardous conditions of working in COVID‐19 "red zones,” and emerge from this work with a sense of meaning and optimism.MethodIn this study, we focused on the graphical life stories, self‐defining memories (SDMs), and self‐defining future projections (SDFPs) of four individuals who worked at COVID‐19 "red zone" hospitals as medical volunteers.ResultsThe analysis revealed that all participants incorporated their volunteering experiences as meaningful and satisfying into their general narrative identity. They scored high on standard scales assessing subjective well‐being and reported autonomous regulation of volunteer motivation. We identified narrative trunk lines and metaphors across autobiographical data, which differentiated the participants into four types of general identities extensively manifesting in volunteering identity: faith‐based, influence‐based, help‐based, and success‐based. The participants' graphical life stories, SDMs, and SDFPs showed similar patterns consisting of adult‐oriented childhood, focus on mid‐life events, and a redemption sequence in narration.ConclusionThese findings could be taken as touchstones to highlight the essentiality of self‐continuity and persistence of self in active coping with global challenges.

Motivace k myslivecké činnosti ve vztahu k osobnostním rysům

Organized hunting activity has become a phenomenon in the Czech Republic during the 20th century. Foreign studies aimed at hunting disclosed various motives for hunting (e. g. Hinrichs et al., 2021). Motivation is closely related to personality traits, so we were interested in the relation between hunting motives and personality traits in Czech hunters. Research was oriented to study which motivational tendencies are applied in the motivation for hunting and how they relate to each other. It was also examined whether there were differences between men and women in motivation. The crucial question was the relation between motives for hunting and personality traits. The sample consisted of 503 respondents, of whom 112 were women (22.27 %) and 391 were men (77.73 %). The sample was obtained using snowball technique, self-selection, and occasional selection. The data were obtained by the original Scale of hunting motives (Scale HM) and the HEXACO questionnaire (Ashton & Lee, 2009). The introductory questions concerned demographics and information about hunting activities. The Scale of hunting motives consists of 30 items. Respondents answer on a five point Likert scale. The questionnaire was inspired by the Volunteer Motivation Inventory (McEwin & Jacobsen -D’Arcy, 2002). The HEXACO questionnaire consists of 60 items. It measures six basic dimensions of personality (honesty–humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience). The data was obtained electronically using Google forms. The analysis of principal components of Scale HM identified five motivational tendencies: appreciation (self -esteem); prestige (excitement); distraction (relaxation); aggression (hostility) and sharing (affiliation). Appreciation and sharing proved to be the dominant motives, while aggression was the weakest. The results show different relationships between motives and personality dimensions. Negative correlations are more common. The motive of prestige negatively correlates with honesty – humility, similarly to the motive of aggression, which also correlates with conscientiousness. The strongest positive correlation is between distraction and emotionality. Other significant correlations can be observed, but most of them are weak. The findings showed significant differences in motives between men and women. Compared to men, women have stronger motives for sharing and relaxing. The men above score in the prestige motive. The connections between hunting motives and personality dimensions are mostly consistent with how the dimensions of the HEXACO model are characterized (Ashton et al., 2000; Ashton & Lee, 2007). But we observe rather weaker relations of the examined variables, pointing out that greater role in developing the motives of hunters can be attributed to other factors. Limits of the research is the use of Scale of hunting motives, which is in development and additional psychometric verification is required. The internal consistency of multiple subscales does not reach the optimal value. The sample was large, which is an indisputable advantage. On the other hand, it was not a random selection, and this reduces the possibility of generalization of the results.

자원봉사동기의 잠재프로파일 유형 및 역할정체성, 사회적 신뢰의 차이

This study analyzed the latent profiles depending on the volunteer motivation and examined the characteristics of each profiles. In addition, this study is aimed at investigating the differences in the role identity of volunteer and social trust according to each latent class. At the same time, This study introduced the concept of transformative volunteerism that aims to change social change by overcoming the concept of functionalist volunteer motivation, which is mostly cited in existing previous studies, and combining social services and social change. The data were collected through online surveys for volunteers from 245 volunteer centers nationwide, and the final 852 copies were used as an analysis data. The results of this study revealed that there were four latent profiles amongst volunteers, distinguished by their volunteer motivation levels; a low motivation, knowledge understanding type group(6.5%), a high motivation, mixed type group(20.2%), an middle-level motivation level, average type group(39.5%) and a high motivation, balanced type group(33.8%). In addition, it was verified about the characteristics of volunteer motivation profiles and statistically significant difference in an volunteer’s role identity and social trust according to the pattern of volunteer’s motivations. Based on these findings, the study discusses practical implications that can promote the motivation of volunteers in Korea.