Convenience Theory

Miethe and Meier (Cite) pointed out several sources of offender motivation: economic disadvantage, weak social bonds, pro-crime values, psychological/biological attributes, generalized needs, and availability of non-criminal alternatives. These same motivations can also be applied to college student cheaters. Students may be motivated by the economic pressure of having to maintain grades for scholarship purposes. Or, they may be motivated by having weakened social bonds to their family and its moral values, due to the students being away from home. Students may be motivated to cheat by having pro-cheating values or because they have some psychological or physiological disorder, such as attention deficit disorder. Finally, students may be motivated to cheat by the excitement of cheating or because they do not have access to as many non-cheating alternatives as do other students.

The age of students may be a factor in how convenient they find cheating. Cheating may decrease as the age of the student increases. Older people have learned the convenient way to a goal is not always the best way. They know that although working hard may not always be the most convenient way to achieve a goal, it is more fulfilling in the end.

Fraternities that keep files on the testing characteristics of professors and copies of their previous exams make it more convenient for fraternity member to cheat. In addition, the social environment of fraternities may influence a fraternity member's attitude toward cheating since fraternities appear to stress having fun more than they do studying. Student cheater motivations are explained in more detail in the subsection that explains the development of convenience theory.