Abstract: Believing that the selection of an effective punitive strategy to improving the behaviour of a student is guided by the motives of the punisher this study aims at reporting on the findings of a research study which was conducted to investigate the motives of lecturers in higher education when selecting punitive strategies for noncompliant student behaviour. The existence of continuous noncompliant behaviour and poor performance of noncompliant students are problems in university lecture rooms all over the world. From a case study design in an interpretivist paradigm within a qualitative research approach, participating lecturer’s views on their motives and influence of punishment of 5 non compliant student’s behaviours on their academic success were collected through in-depth individual interviews and document analysis. From a population of lecturers 20 randomly selected lecturers with at least 5 year teaching experience at a university in the North-West province of South Africa were sampled. Data collected were analysed through open coding. The findings revealed that the motives behind particular punitive strategies used in the lecture rooms were geared for the students and intended to hurt the emotions of the noncompliant students with the hope that they would refrain from such behaviours. Only limited attention was directed towards the noncompliant behaviour and on the academic achievements of the students. Noncompliant students continued to show poor academic performance despite all the punitive strategies used by their lecturers. It is recommended that lecturers need to reconsider their motives for selecting punitive strategies along the lines of the behaviour modification approach.