BackgroundThe use of community health workers (CHWs) has been considered as one of the strategies to address the growing shortage of health workers, predominantly in low-income countries. They are playing a pivotal role in lessening health disparities through improving health outcomes for underserved populations. Yet, little is known about what factors motivate and drive them to continue working as CHWs. In this study, we aimed to examine factors contributing to the motivation of volunteer CHWs (vCHWs) in Ethiopia currently known as one-to-five network leaders (1to5NLs) and explore variations between attributes of social and work-related determinants.MethodWe conducted a cross-sectional study in four selected woredas (the second lowest administrative structure in Ethiopia, and similar to a district) of Oromia and Tigray regions and interviewed 786 1to5NLs. The effects of each motivational factor were explored using percentage of respondents who agreed and strongly agreed to each of them and Mann-Whitney U test.ResultsIndividual, community, and health system factors contributed to the motivation of 1to5NLs in this study. Intrinsic desire to have a good status in the community as a result of their volunteer service (81.86%) followed by a commitment to serve the community (81.61%) and to gain satisfaction by accomplishing something worthwhile to the community (81.61%) were some of the factors motivating 1to5NLs in our study. Despite these motivational items, factors such as lack of career development (51.47%), unclear health development army guideline (59.26%), limited supervision and support (62.32%), and lack of recognition and appreciation of accomplishments (63.22%) were the factors negatively affecting motivation of 1to5NLs. Lack of career development, limited supervision and support, and lack of recognition and appreciation of accomplishments were significantly varied between attributes of educational level, marital status, service year as 1to5NLs, and previous volunteer engagement (at P < 0.05).ConclusionFindings of our study indicated that non-financial incentives such as the creation of career development models is the key to motivating and retaining CHWs where they are not receiving stipends. Sustainability of CHW program should consider exploring enhanced innovations to strengthen supportive supervision, development of better mechanisms to publicize the role of CHWs, and improvement of recognition and appreciation schemes for CHWs’ efforts and accomplishments.