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Exam failure may be attributed to a student’s exaggerated belief that they deserve to succeed, according to research conducted by the University of Otago.

The study confirms, as educators often claim, that some students believe they have a right to succeed, known as “excessive entitlement,” and that this can interfere with achieving success in the context of university study.

Lead authors of the study Dr Donna Anderson and Prof Jamin Halberstadt, of the Department of Psychology, examined the entitlement beliefs of almost 300 student volunteers sitting a Marketing and Consumption paper. These beliefs were then used to predict their final exam scores at the end of the semester, revealing that students with a perceived personal entitlement performed worse than their peers in the final exam.

Factors such as personal responsibility and internal motivation were attributed to the entitlement effects, as less effort was put in where required by those who believed that other people are responsible for their success or failure.

Critic spoke with Prof Halberstadt, who attributed the sentiment of “excessive entitlement” to a “learned approach to the world” that is influenced by teachers, culture, peers and parents. “I would believe generally that people are more entitled than in the past but there is no reason to think Otago more so than others.”

As for “excessive entitlement” prompting a low-performing student to cheat, Prof Halberstadt remarked that there was no evidence from the study that would indicate this to be the case. However, he did say he could see the “chain of logic” that starts with a feeling of entitlement and leads to cheating. “It makes sense that someone who has that feeling may rationalise it.”

According to Dr Anderson, the study provides practical advice for improving learning outcomes, especially by altering entitlement attitudes around what students “can legitimately expect from their learning institutions, and what they need to expect from themselves.”