The American Marketing Association (AMA) and the American Marketing Association Foundation (AMAF) are pleased to announce Thomas Scheurer as the winner of the 2025 John A. Howard/AMA Doctoral Dissertation Award for his dissertation, “More than Meets the Eye: Value Creation Potentials and Pitfalls of Augmented Reality Product Displays.”

ETH Zurich
Thomas Scheurer is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Management, Technology, and Economics at ETH Zurich and at the Institute of Marketing and Analytics at the University of Lucerne. His research focuses on how emerging technologies impact consumers and society. Using a psychological and data-driven perspective, the main focus of his research centers on consumer interactions with augmented and virtual reality, as well as cognitive processing and opinion formation in large-scale online contexts. In his research, he borrows from theories in cognitive and ecological psychology (e.g., spatial cognition, visual perception), human–computer interaction, and consumer online search processes. He works with different methodologies and incorporates both qualitative and quantitative (experimental and observational) data sources in his research.
Before joining ETH Zurich, Scheurer earned a BSc and MSc in Business Administration from the University of Bern and a PhD in Economics and Management from the University of Lucerne.
Scheurer will receive the Howard Award at the 2026 AMA Winter Academic Conference.
The AMA is extremely grateful to all the volunteer reviewers who dedicated their time to evaluating the dissertations submitted for this award. This year’s cochairs, Linda Alkire and Michelle Daniels, would specifically like to recognize the Blue Ribbon Panel consisting of Linda Price, Vanessa Patrick, Peter Verhoef, and Jochen Wirtz.
2025 Honorable Mentions
The 2025 Howard Award committee would also like to recognize two honorable mentions:
- “Essays on Customer Experience Management,” by Kevin Giang Barrera (University of Texas at El Paso)

- “Consumer Psychology at the Point of Transaction,” by Rin Yoon (University of Iowa)

About the American Marketing Association (AMA)
As the leading global professional marketing association, the AMA is the essential community for marketers. From students and practitioners to executives and academics, we aim to elevate the profession, deepen knowledge, and make a lasting impact. The AMA is home to five premier scholarly journals including: Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Journal of International Marketing, and Journal of Interactive Marketing. Our industry-leading training events and conferences define future forward practices, while our professional development and PCM® professional certification advance knowledge. With 70 chapters and a presence on 350 college campuses across North America, the AMA fosters a vibrant community of marketers. The association’s philanthropic arm, the AMA’s Foundation, is inspiring a more diverse industry and ensuring marketing research impacts public good.
AMA views marketing as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. You can learn more about AMA’s learning programs and certifications, conferences and events, and scholarly journals at AMA.org.