Call for Submissions for the
John A. Howard/AMA Doctoral Dissertation Award
Submissions Due: October 15, 2014
Recognizing Excellent Marketing Dissertations for Over 50 Years
Eligibility
Students completing the requirements for their doctoral degrees in marketing and consumer behavior-related topics between October 1, 2013 and September 30, 2014, are invited to enter the annual John A. Howard/AMA Doctoral Award Competition. Graduates from doctoral programs in any part of the world are invited to participate.
The Award and its History
In 1960, the AMA invited top doctoral candidates to present their papers at the annual Marketing Educators’ Conference. In 1967, this recognition process was formalized with the establishment of the Doctoral Dissertation Awards.
The John A. Howard/AMA Doctoral Dissertation Endowment was established in 1992 with the initial gift from Dr. Jagdish Sheth of Emory University in honor of his advisor. The purpose of the endowment is to both assure the continuity of the program and to further promote the importance of the dissertation process.
John Howard was the George E. Warren Professor Emeritus of Business at Columbia University. He was a recognized innovator in the application of basic research in marketing, and consumer and buyer behavior. His numerous marketing texts and articles contributed to the development of the profession for nearly 40 years, before his death in 1999. Howard also taught at the Universities of Illinois, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Western Ontario and Stanford. His leadership in directing doctoral candidates through the dissertation process influenced both the quality of the research and the preparation of current marketing faculty across the country.
Sheth, also internationally recognized for his contributions to marketing and the academic community, developed his dissertation under the guidance of Howard while at the University of Pittsburgh. According to Sheth, “John Howard was a major influence on me both personally and professionally. His devotion to the discipline of marketing and his hard work were an inspiration to all of us who have had the honor and the privilege of working with him. He was a true scholar because he was always eager to learn, challenge, and innovate new concepts and perspectives.”
For a list of previous winners of the John A. Howard/AMA Doctoral Dissertation Award, please visit http://www.themarketingfoundation.org/howard_recipients.html.
Selection Criteria
A team of reviewers will be appointed by the award co-chairs, Professors Klaus Wertenbroch (INSEAD, Europe Campus) and Susan Fournier (Boston University School of Management) to review the submissions. A double-blind review procedure will be followed to review the papers based on the following criteria:
- Importance of the research question/issue to marketing
- Conceptual rigor
- Methodological rigor and technical competence in the execution of the research
- Value of the findings in contributing to knowledge in marketing
- Value of the findings to marketing practitioners and other stakeholders
- Originality of the research
Authors will be notified in mid-January regarding the status of their submission. Winner(s) will be recognized at the 2015 AMA Winter Marketing Educators’ Conference on February 14, 2015 in San Antonio, Texas.
Submission Details (Due date: October 15, 2014)
The submission should describe the research questions/issues, propositions and/or formal hypotheses (if appropriate to the method), relevant literature, data, research and analytic methods, findings, limitations of the study, conclusions, the contributions of the study for theory and practice, and suggestions for future research. The literature background, design, methods, analysis, and findings should be presented in enough detail and clarity to provide a theoretical grounding for the study and to allow the proper assessment of its methodology and findings.
When printed, the submission must be no more than 30 double-spaced pages in 12-point type; this limit is inclusive of all pages (e.g., text, references, figures, tables, and appendices). The manuscript guidelines for the Journal of Marketing should be used as a style guide. Submissions beyond the page limit or inconsistent with the style guidelines will not be sent out for review.
Authors should submit their manuscripts electronically as email attachments (one file only) in MS Word to Professors Klaus Wertenbroch and Susan Fournier by way of Julie Schnidman, Foundation Manager at jschnidman@ama.org. The letter to the award co-chairs (see below) must be included in the email message itself.
Please note that the single file submission must be complete (text, references, figures, tables) and shared as one file only. We cannot accept submissions sent as multiple file attachments or with incomplete information. Please do not mail hard copies.
Because the review process will be double-blind, candidates making submissions should not include author names and schools on the paper itself.
The accompanying email letter to the co-chairs should include all of the following information: author’s name, telephone numbers, fax number, e-mail address, telephone number, the school awarding the degree, the date the dissertation defense was successfully completed, the name of the faculty member(s) chairing the dissertation committee, and the candidate’s current and future positions.
If you have any questions about the competition, please contact:
Klaus Wertenbroch
Professor of Marketing at INSEAD, Europe Campus
klaus.wertenbroch@insead.edu
Susan Fournier
Professor of Marketing, Questrom Professor in Management, and Faculty Director of the MBA Program at Boston University
fournism@bu.edu