Concordia marketing prof appointed Lifetime Member of the Royal Society of Canada

Each year, the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) welcomes more than 90 new members. Science, social sciences, arts and humanities researchers who have broken new ground in their respective fields are invited to join.

After 25 years of membership, Michel Laroche, a professor in Concordia’s Department of Marketing, has reached a career milestone.

"I’m a member for life now, which feels nice," he says. "I’m very proud of it."

Laroche will be recognized alongside the most recent inductees at the RSC’s Celebration of Excellence and Engagement event in Waterloo, Ontario, from November 15 to 18.

The first professor at the John Molson School of Business to join the RSC, Laroche has dedicated much of his life to research. "Next year will be 50 years of research, but I still get excited about it. I am constantly looking for new frontiers," he says.

"At the John Molson School of Business, we were the first to start working on internet research modelling. We were also the first to develop a model for web communities."

In addition to his Lifetime Member status with the RSC, Laroche is also a fellow of the American Psychological Association and a distinguished fellow of both the Society for Marketing Advances and the Academy of Marketing Science. He also holds the Royal Bank Distinguished Professorship in Marketing at the John Molson School.

Laroche’s main research interests are in advertising management, consumer behaviour modelling, social media/digital marketing, retailing, services marketing, marketing strategy, marketing communications, culture, multidisciplinary research and research methodology.

"The research I’ve done has been extremely rewarding. I have over 32,000 citations and 250 articles," he says.

Laroche is also the co-author of 26 major textbooks and a recipient of numerous research awards.

"It’s also very rewarding to exchange ideas with the next generation of researchers. Over the past 50 years, I’ve worked with over 30 PhD students and 70 MSc students on their research papers," he notes.

Laroche adds that research impacts are what makes the work worthwhile for him.

"In the old days, the MBAs had to write a business research paper. One of my students worked on a project about environmentally friendly products. Based on that paper, we wrote an article that, lo and behold, has over 4,000 citations," he reports.

"It has had a tremendous impact, which we weren’t expecting. When something like that happens, it makes the effort you put into the research — which is quite a lot of effort — worthwhile, when it’s being read, used and cited."

As for the future, Laroche still teaches part-time and says his work is far from finished.

"I’ve asked for a sabbatical for the next year. During that time, I’m interested in exploring artificial intelligence and looking at how it can affect marketing, consumers, companies and so on," he says.

"I’m always interested in new topics and I’m always curious. Even after 50 years, I’m not done."

Learn more about Concordia's Department of Marketing.