Segmenting volunteers by motivation in the 2012 London Olympic Games

•We conducted a survey of a total of 11,421 London Olympic volunteers.•We employed a combined factor-clustering method to extract distinct volunteer segments.•We found three meaningful distinct segments.•The obligated group contained the largest number of volunteers among three groups.•The enthusiastic group had the highest satisfaction and the highest retention.

The present research employed seven motivational factors to delineate sports-event volunteer segments for the 2012 London Olympic Games. The investigators conducted a survey of 11,421 volunteers in the 2012 London Olympic Games and used the factor-clustering method to identify three distinct segments (i.e., the obligated, the enthusiastic, and the semi-enthusiastic). In addition, these segments' overall satisfaction, behavioral intentions for other future events, and socio-demographic backgrounds were assessed, uncovering significant differences among the segments. An ANOVA and a chi-square test found the segments to differ significantly from each other in all of these regards.