I can tell you why: because it saves time compared to actually debugging things, finding and fixing root cause (or filing a bug report for it, if it can't be fixed directly). Or rather people believe it saves time, but I doubt there is real research that would prove (or debunk) this.
Personally, I've got my first job 15 years ago after I answered a question "What will you do if a Windows PC is in cyclic boot?". My answer had a couple of steps and only the very last one, last resort, was WinXP reinstallation. Other 7 people who were interviewed that day went for reinstallation right away. At least that's what interviewer told me.
I can somewhat agree, that with WinXP that probably was a good idea, at least if you had frequent applications installs and removals. But since Win7 it is rarely a real need. It may be a good idea if your are transferring your system drive to a significantly different hardware, but even then it's not really required with how drivers are managed nowadays: it will be enough to remove old devices and uninstall unused software.