IntroductionChina has limited formal care services and weak unpaid informal care support for older people, which has caused a care service shortage for them. Voluntary community care services are thus a type of formal care service that aims to meet older people's unmet care needs. However, the continuity of such voluntary community care services is important for the degree to which these unmet care needs of older people can be satisfied. Therefore, this study examines what motivates volunteers to provide voluntary community care services for older people in China. It argues that providing continuous voluntary community care services can be motivated by the interaction of volunteers' internal and external motivations.MethodsThis study employs the grounded theory approach, including open coding, axial coding, selective coding, and saturation testing, and derives the data from 15 semi-structured interviews with volunteers from September to December 2021 in Wuhu, China.ResultsThe analysis identifies three internal motivations (altruism, social interaction, and self-fulfillment) and three external motivations (social support, standardized management, and relevant benefits) as well as the interaction between them as factors that impact volunteers' willingness to offer continuous voluntary community care services for older people.DiscussionThe study's findings highlight the impact of continuous volunteering on society, which is significant to provide voluntary community care services for older people. It thus contributes to the development of China's care policy and future care supply services as well as serves as a reference for care development models in other welfare states, particularly in places where both formal and informal care are underdeveloped such as China.

Background: China has limited and expensive paid formal care services and weak unpaid informal family care support for older people, which has caused a care service shortage for older people. Therefore, voluntary care service in the community is important for older people to satisfy their unmet care needs. However, the continuity of voluntary community care services can be improved regarding incentive integration for volunteers. This study analyzes if the community voluntary care services can continuously impact volunteers’ willingness to offer care services for older people. Methods: The study conducted a semi-structured interview analysis based on 15 interviews. Results: It identifies internal incentives, including altruism, social interaction, and self-realization, and external incentives, including social support, specification impetus, and benefit attraction, which all impact volunteers’ willingness to offer voluntary care services for older people. Conclusions: Integrating internal and external incentives strengthens volunteers’ care service activity for providing voluntary care services.