TODIM approach based on score function under hesitant 2-tuple linguistic environment

摘要

The hesitant 2-tuple linguistic set (H2TLS) as an important extension of the 2-tuple linguistic model, can effectively express the judgments of the decision makers (DMs) not only in qualitative aspects but also reflect the vagueness and hesitancy by assigning more than one translation parameters to every linguistic variable of the linguistic term set (LTS). The aim of this study is to extend the TODIM (an acronym in Portuguese of interactive and multi-criteria decision making) method, to solve multi-criteria group decision making (MCGDM) problems in the context of H2TLSs with completely unknown criteria weights. The TODIM method is developed on the basis of prospect theory which can effectively capture the psychological behavior of DMs during the decision analysis. In order to enhance the suitability and applicability of H2TLSs, this paper investigates first the generalized distance measure between hesitant 2-tuple linguistic elements (H2TLEs). Furthermore, a score function for H2TLEs is proposed and the dominance relations are defined by using this function. A TODIM method is established that can greatly help in solving MCGDM problems in which alternatives are assessed in the form of H2TLEs in the presence of certain criteria. A procedure for determining the criteria weights is also established as a follow up. Finally, a numerical example is offered and a comparison analysis of proposed extended TODIM method is made with other methods to check the validity and practicality of the proposed study.