ORIGINAL ARTICLE Motivation among hospital volunteers: an empirical analysis in Portugal Marisa R. Ferreira & Teresa Proença & João F. Proença Received: 25 November 2011 /Accepted: 15 May 2012 /Published online: 31 May 2012 # Springer-Verlag 2012 Abstract The purpose of this paper is to identify the different types of motivations in hospital volunteers. We present a literature review about different types of motivation and we collect data from hospital volunteers through a questionnaire. Four different motivation categories are identified: development and learning, altruism, career recognition and belonging and protection. The main motivations expressed are development and learning, followed by altruism. Belonging and protection, followed by career recognition are the least cited motivations. Career recognition is negatively correlated with age, and belonging/ protection is negatively correlated with educa- tion. That is, younger volunteers present more career recognition motives and less educated volunteers have more from protection and belonging. This study encom- passes hospital volunteers and their motivations. The paper is useful to policy makers aiming to develop targeted approaches to attracting and retaining volunteers. Keywords Hospital volunteers . Motivations . Development and learning 1 Introduction “From the end of the 1970s onwards, interest in the non-profit (NPO) sector started to grow” (Borzaga and Santuari 2003: 32). Interest in this sector progressively increased, Int Rev Public Nonprofit Mark (2012) 9:137–152 DOI 10.1007/s12208-012-0083-3 M. R. Ferreira (*) University of Porto, Faculty of Economics, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-464 Porto, Portugal e-mail: marisaferreira@eu.ipp.pt T. Proença University of Porto, Faculty of Economics, CEF.UP, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-464 Porto, Portugal e-mail: tproenca@fep.up.pt M. R. Ferreira School of Management and Technology of Felgueiras, CIICESI, Porto Polytechnic Institute, Casa do Curral, 4610-156 Felgueiras, Portugal J. F. Proença University of Porto, Faculty of Economics, ADVANCE, ISEG, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-464 Porto, Portugal e-mail: jproenca@fep.up.pt