Probabilistic Linguistic Preference Relation-Based Decision Framework for Multi-Attribute Group Decision Making

• Main Authors: R. Krishankumar, K. S. Ravichandran, M. Ifjaz Ahmed, Samarjit Kar, Sanjay K. Tyagi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-12-01
• Series: Symmetry
• Subjects: analytic hierarchy process; consistency measure; group decision-making; probabilistic linguistic preference relation
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-8994/11/1/2

With trending competition in decision-making process, linguistic decision-making is gaining attractive attention. Previous studies on linguistic decision-making have neglected the occurring probability (relative importance) of each linguistic term which causes unreasonable ranking of objects. Further, decision-makers&#8217; (DMs) often face difficulties in providing apt preference information for evaluation. Motivated by these challenges, in this paper, we set our proposal on probabilistic linguistic preference relation (PLPR)-based decision framework. The framework consists of two phases viz., (a) <i>missing value entry phase</i> and (b) <i>ranking phase</i>. In phase (a), the missing values of PLPR are filled using a newly proposed automatic procedure and consistency of PLPR is ensured using a consistency check and repair mechanism. Following this, in phase (b), objects are ranked using newly proposed analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method under PLPR context. The practicality of the proposal is validated by using two numerical examples viz., green supplier selection problem for healthcare and the automobile industry. Finally, the strength and weakness of the proposal are discussed by comparing with similar methods.