Threshold-Enhanced PROMETHEE Group Decision Support under Uncertainties

Abstract

As threshold determination is arduous when using PROMETHEE (Preference Ranking Organization METHod for Enrichment Evaluations) to make decisions, this study proposes a comprehensive PROMETHEE-based group decision support for covering the uncertainties of threshold determination, risk preferences, and the evaluation itself. To reduce the difficulty on threshold determination, it explicitly offers statistical aggregation of individuals' indifference and preference thresholds so as to obtain benefits from multiple sources of knowledge and experience. Three typical combinations are characterized that reflect conservative, balanced, and aggressive group preferences. We also derive 6 properties to illustrate the effects of threshold changes on preference changes. Despite variances among the individual rankings of alternatives, the rank differences within the group decisions do converge by the illustrative example. A larger interval of a conservative group preference generates more diverse ranks versus the other two group preferences. Moreover, PROMETHEE III has a power on managing inaccurate measurement. The introduction of S-shaped functions has the benefit of fitting behavioral decision making under uncertainty. Integrating these approaches together for a decision support, our proposal is less affected by rank variance and coherent with traditional group PROMETHEE under differentiated decision power.