Sylvain Sénécal, winner of the 2023 Pierre Laurin award for research excellence
November 30, 2023
Sylvain Sénécal received the 2023 Pierre Laurin Award for Research Excellence for his exemplary scientific career and his contribution to the School’s renown. He has made a name for himself over the years, both in Canada and abroad, as a professor in the Department of Marketing, holder of the RBC Financial Group Chair of E-Commerce, and co-director of the School’s Tech3Lab.
A keen interest in e-commerce
Since his PhD in Marketing from HEC Montréal in the early 2000s, his research interests have always been linked to e-commerce, particularly the influence of third parties during the consumer decision-making process. In fact, one of the earliest published articles from his thesis*, co-authored with Jacques Nantel, is extremely significant in the field of recommendation systems and has been cited more than 2,400 times, according to Google Scholar.
Prior to joining HEC Montréal in 2004, he was assistant professor of marketing and e-commerce at the University of Toledo (Ohio, US). He was appointed associate professor 2 years after joining the School, and became a professor in 2013. In the meantime, he was awarded the RBC Financial Group Chair of E-Commerce, which he has held since 2007.
His stellar grasp of the online customer experience led him and a few colleagues to create the Tech3Lab in 2011. This is now considered the largest user experience research laboratory in the world, and he is one of its co-directors.
Some research highlights
- Since joining HEC Montréal, he has published 104 peer-reviewed scientific articles, representing an average of over 5 articles per year, for which he has received numerous awards.
- He has also solely or jointly written 13 book chapters, and 118 conference reports.
- He is a member of 3 editorial boards: International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Industrial Marketing Management, Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences.
- Till date, his articles have 7,030 citations on Google Scholar, with an h-index of 33.
- As a principal or co-investigator, he received over $20 million in research grants, much of which has gone towards the creation and development of Tech3Lab.
- He joined the College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada in 2017.
- He collaborated on 7 invention disclosures and 1 patent (the 1st in the history of the School), and 1 patent application is currently being evaluated.
- Each year, he co-supervises around 15 master’s and doctoral students, many of whom conduct research projects with an industrial partner of Tech3Lab (e.g.: National Bank of Canada, CAE, Deloitte, Desjardins, Sobeys), which culminate in scientific articles.
* SÉNÉCAL, Sylvain, and Jacques NANTEL (2004). “The influence of online product recommendations on consumers’ online choices”, Journal of Retailing, vol. 80, no 2, p. 159-169.
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