About Our Faculty
Katz School of Business

About Sarah Schwarz, Ph.D.

After completing her education at the University of Innsbruck and Wilfrid Laurier University, Dr. Sarah Schwarz joined Fort Lewis College in 2024 as an Assistant Professor of Marketing. Her teaching focuses on marketing, strategic management, and consumer behavior. Dr. Schwarz is passionate about bridging theory and practice through her research on consumer cultures in areas such as digital nomadism, luxury experiences, and sustainable travel. She applies various qualitative methods—including in-depth interviews, focus groups, ethnography, and netnography—to explore how consumption manifests in mobile contexts. Dr. Schwarz is committed to advancing knowledge in her field while mentoring students in their academic pursuits.

In the media

• Hierländer, Jeannine (2022), "Digital Nomads: How a Lifestyle Became an Economic Factor," Die Presse, June 14.
• Grobner, Cornelia (2021), "Advanced Lifestyle Escapism," Die Presse, October 13.

Selected conference presentations

• Aufschnaiter, Christiane, Sarah Schwarz, and Cristel Russell (2024). "The Art of Traveling Minds: Imagining Home Consumption." Contribution presented by co-author(s) at the Association for Consumer Research Conference, Paris, France.
• Aufschnaiter, Christiane, Sarah Schwarz, and Cristel Russell (2024). "Home is Where the Wi-Fi Connects: Digital Nomads and Their Spaces." Contribution presented by co-author(s) at the Consumer Culture Theory Conference, San Diego, USA.
• Aufschnaiter, Christiane and Sarah Schwarz (2024). "Venturing Into Social and Material Territories – An Ethnography on The Digital Nomad Village." Contribution presented by co-author at the Consumer Culture Theory Conference, San Diego, USA.
• Aufschnaiter, Christiane, Sarah Schwarz, and Cristel Russell (2024). "The New Homefront: Nomadic Lifestyles and Spatial Belonging." Contribution presented by co-author(s) at the Brand Camp Conference, Obergurgl, Austria.
• Aufschnaiter, Christiane, Sarah Schwarz, and Cristel Russell (2023). "Beyond the Physical: A Spatial and Temporal Framework of Consumption in Mobility." Contribution presented by co-author(s) at the Consumer Culture Theory Conference, Lund, Sweden.
• Schwarz, Sarah, Andrea Hemetsberger, and Sylvia von Wallpach (2023). "When Less is More: Understanding Luxury in Mobility Contexts." Contribution presented by co-author(s) at the Brand Meaning Network Workshop, Dubai, UAE.
• Hemetsberger, Andrea, Christiane Aufschnaiter, and Sarah Schwarz (2022). "Navigating Sociality in Physical Distance: Practices of Strategic Work and Aesthetic Play." Contribution presented by co-author(s) at the French-Austrian-German Workshop on Consumer Behavior, Saarbrücken, Germany.
• Aufschnaiter, Christiane and Sarah Schwarz (2022). "The Constitution of Brands as Solid Anchors and Liquid Motors: A Moleskine Case." Abstract & poster presented at the Brand Camp Conference, Obergurgl, Austria.
• Schwarz, Sarah and Christiane Aufschnaiter (2022). "Brand Nomadicity: Redefining Consumer-Brand Relationships in Liquid Modernity." Contribution presented at the Association for Consumer Research Conference, Online.
• Aufschnaiter, Christiane and Sarah Schwarz (2022). "Breaking Branding Boundaries: The Materialization of Brands Between Liquidity and Solidity." Contribution presented by co-author at the Consumer Culture Theory Conference, Corvallis, USA.
• Schwarz, Sarah (2021). "'Going' Green? Nomadic Consumers' Paradoxical Journey Toward Sustainability." Contribution presented at the Association for Consumer Research Conference, Online.
• Aufschnaiter, Christiane, Sarah Schwarz, and Andrea Hemetsberger (2021). "Anchors on the Move: Digital Nomads’ Solid Footholds in Liquidity." Contribution presented at the Association for Consumer Research Conference, Online.
• Schwarz, Sarah and Andrea Hemetsberger (2020). "A Luxury Moment to Go, Please: Paradoxes of Luxuriousness Among Cosmopolite Consumers." Contribution presented at the Association for Consumer Research Conference, Online.

Publications or theses:

• Schöps, Jonathan D., Sarah Schwarz, and Veronika Rojkowski (2024). "Memetic Logics of Participation: Fitness Body Culture on Instagram." Marketing Theory, 24(1), 65–89.
• Schwarz, Sarah (2023). Consumption in Mobility Contexts. Dissertation, University of Innsbruck, Austria.
• Schwarz, Sarah, Christiane Aufschnaiter, and Andrea Hemetsberger (2023). "Social Linking Practices Across Physical Distance: The Material Constitution of Sociality." Marketing Theory, 23(2), 321–42.
• Schwarz, Sarah, and Christiane Aufschnaiter (2022). "Brand Nomadicity: Redefining Consumer-Brand Relationships in Liquid Modernity." NA - Advances in Consumer Research, 50.
• Schwarz, Sarah (2021). "'Going' Green? Nomadic Consumers' Paradoxical Journey Toward Sustainability." NA - Advances in Consumer Research, 49, 60–64.
• Aufschnaiter, Christiane, Sarah Schwarz, and Andrea Hemetsberger (2021). "Anchors on the Move: Digital Nomads’ Solid Footholds in Liquidity." NA - Advances in Consumer Research, 49, 27–31.
• Schwarz, Sarah, and Andrea Hemetsberger (2020). "A Luxury Moment to Go, Please: Paradoxes of Luxuriousness Among Cosmopolite Consumers." NA - Advances in Consumer Research, 48, 121–125.
• Schwarz, Sarah (2019). Luxuries of Modern Nomads: Luxury Experiences in the Context of Liquidity. Diploma Thesis, University of Innsbruck, Austria.

Awards and highlights:

• "Young Scholar Research Funding" Economy, Politics, and Society Research Platform, 2022
• "Performance-Based Scholarship" University of Innsbruck, 2020 and 2021
• "Scholarship for Scientific Theses" University of Innsbruck, 2017 and 2020
• "Excellence Scholarship" University of Innsbruck, 2020
• "Joint Study Funding" University of Innsbruck, 2016