2021 Volume 76 Issue 5 Pages I_101-I_111
The importance of civic organizations, such as volunteers and community-based groups, is increasing in local communities that face critical issues such as population decline, aging, and risk of natural disasters. However, many organizations have been deficient in manpower. It is necessary to clarify the relationship between the characteristics of the organization and its motives in order to secure continuous participation of members and volunteers. This study asked 13 kinds of questions regarding the motivation of participation for the members in several types of organizations. First, seven characteristics of motives are identified by a factor analysis. Second, similar motives were arranged based on factor scores by a self-organizing map analysis (SOM). Moreover, the results of SOM were divided into eight groups that have characteristic motivations by cluster analysis. The analytical results showed that the differences in motives for participation are based on activities and type of organization. We then clarified that there are organizations where activities are carried out based on various participation motives and organizations where participation motives are scarce.
