×

An adaptive two-stage consensus reaching process based on heterogeneous judgments and social relations for large-scale group decision making. (English) Zbl 1536.91146

Summary: Large-scale group decision making is common in real-world scenarios, yet it involves two critical issues: (1) clustering individuals into subgroups according to specific criterion, and (2) facilitating any subsequent consensus reaching process. This paper presents a novel approach to address these challenges. Firstly, a set of transformation rules is proposed to convert heterogeneous judgments expressed by individuals into a homogeneous preference form. These judgments can be classified from two aspects: direct or indirect assessments, and fuzzy set or linguistic term set schemes. Subsequently, a group clustering method is introduced to classify individuals into subgroups, considering both of their preferences and social relations. The clustering method incorporates the measures of opinion divergence among individuals within the group and social network analysis techniques comprehensively. Finally, an adaptive two-stage group consensus measurement and adjustment method is proposed. The first stage employs a centralized mechanism within each subgroup, aiming to achieve intra-subgroup consensus. The second stage employs a democratic mechanism among different subgroups, focusing on inter-subgroup consensus. The effectiveness and rationality of the proposed method are demonstrated through an illustrative example and comparative analysis with state-of-the-art methods. The findings highlight the usefulness of the proposed method in addressing real-world decision-making problems within large-scale group contexts.

MSC:

91B06 Decision theory
90B50 Management decision making, including multiple objectives
91B08 Individual preferences
91D30 Social networks; opinion dynamics
Full Text: DOI

References:

[1] Du, Z.; Luo, H.; Lin, X.; Yu, S., A trust-similarity analysis-based clustering method for large-scale group decision-making under a social network, Information Fusion, 63, 13-29 (2020)
[2] Lu, Y.; Xu, Y.; Herrera-Viedma, E.; Han, Y., Consensus of large-scale group decision making in social network: the minimum cost model based on robust optimization, Information Sciences, 547, 910-930 (2021) · Zbl 1479.91282
[3] Rodríguez, R. M.; Labella, Á.; Dutta, B.; Martínez, L., Comprehensive minimum cost models for large scale group decision making with consistent fuzzy preference relations, Knowledge-Based Systems, 215, Article 106780 pp. (2021)
[4] Zhang, G.; Dong, Y.; Xu, Y., Consistency and consensus measures for linguistic preference relations based on distribution assessments, Information Fusion, 17, 46-55 (2014)
[5] Zhou, M.; Hu, M.; Chen, Y.; Cheng, B.; Wu, J.; Herrera-Viedma, E., Towards achieving consistent opinion fusion in group decision making with complete distributed preference relations, Knowledge-Based Systems, 236, Article 107740 pp. (2022)
[6] Wu, Z.; Xu, J., A consensus model for large-scale group decision making with hesitant fuzzy information and changeable clusters, Information Fusion, 41, 217-231 (2018)
[7] Zhang, H.; Dong, Y.; Herrera-Viedma, E., Consensus Building for the Heterogeneous Large-Scale GDM With the Individual Concerns and Satisfactions, Ieee Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, 26, 884-898 (2018)
[8] Wu, J.; Chang, J.; Cao, Q.; Liang, C., A trust propagation and collaborative filtering based method for incomplete information in social network group decision making with type-2 linguistic trust, Computers & Industrial Engineering, 127, 853-864 (2019)
[9] Du, Z.; Yu, S.; Luo, H.; Lin, X., Consensus convergence in large-group social network environment: Coordination between trust relationship and opinion similarity, Knowledge-Based Systems, 217, Article 106828 pp. (2021)
[10] Wang, Z.; Rodríguez, R. M.; Wang, Y.; Martínez, L., A two-stage minimum adjustment consensus model for large scale decision making based on reliability modeled by two-dimension 2-tuple linguistic information, Computers & Industrial Engineering, 151, Article 106973 pp. (2021)
[11] Wang, S.; Wu, J.; Chiclana, F.; Sun, Q.i.; Herrera-Viedma, E., Two stage feedback mechanism with different power structures for consensus in large-scale group decision-making, IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, 30, 10, 4177-4189 (2022)
[12] Cao, M.; Wu, J.; Chiclana, F.; Herrera-Viedma, E., A bidirectional feedback mechanism for balancing group consensus and individual harmony in group decision making, Information Fusion, 76, 133-144 (2021)
[13] Zhou, Y.-J.; Zhou, M.i.; Liu, X.-B.; Cheng, B.-Y.; Herrera-Viedma, E., Consensus reaching mechanism with parallel dynamic feedback strategy for large-scale group decision making under social network analysis, Computers & Industrial Engineering, 174, 108818 (2022)
[14] Zadeh, L. A., Fuzzy sets as a basis for a theory of possibility, Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 1, 1, 3-28 (1978) · Zbl 0377.04002
[15] Sun, Q.i.; Wu, J.; Chiclana, F.; Fujita, H.; Herrera-Viedma, E., A dynamic feedback mechanism with attitudinal consensus threshold for minimum adjustment cost in group decision making, IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, 30, 5, 1287-1301 (2022)
[16] Kt, A., Intuitionistic fuzzy sets, Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 20, 87-96 (1986) · Zbl 0631.03040
[17] Chiclana, F.; Herrera, F.; Herrera-Viedma, E., Integrating three representation models in fuzzy multipurpose decision making based on fuzzy preference relations, Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 97, 33-48 (1998) · Zbl 0932.91012
[18] Yang, J.; Xu, D., Evidential reasoning rule for evidence combination, Artificial Intelligence, 205, 1-29 (2013) · Zbl 1334.68225
[19] Zhou, M.; Zhu, S. S.; Chen, Y. W.; Wu, J.; Herrera-Viedma, E., A generalized belief entropy with nonspecificity and structural Conflict, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems, 52, 5532-5545 (2022)
[20] F. Xiao, CEQD: A complex mass function to predict interference effects, IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, 52 (2022) 7402-7414.
[21] Zhang, Y.; Xu, Z.; Wang, H.; Liao, H., Consistency-based risk assessment with probabilistic linguistic preference relation, Applied Soft Computing, 49, 817-833 (2016)
[22] Fu, C.; Xu, D.; Yang, S., Distributed preference relations for multiple attribute decision analysis, Journal of the Operational Research Society, 67, 457-473 (2016)
[23] Fu, C.; Chang, W.; Xue, M.; Yang, S., Multiple criteria group decision making with belief distributions and distributed preference relations, European Journal of Operational Research, 273, 623-633 (2019)
[24] Rodriguez, R. M.; Martinez, L.; Herrera, F., Hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets for decision making, IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, 20, 109-119 (2012)
[25] Chen, Z.; Chin, K. S.; Li, Y.; Yang, Y., Proportional hesitant fuzzy linguistic term set for multiple criteria group decision making, Information Sciences, 357, 61-87 (2016) · Zbl 1427.68310
[26] Tang, M.; Zhou, X.; Liao, H.; Xu, J.; Fujita, H.; Herrera, F., Ordinal consensus measure with objective threshold for heterogeneous large-scale group decision making, Knowledge-Based Systems, 180, 62-74 (2019)
[27] Liu, B.; Zhou, Q.; Ding, R.-X.; Palomares, I.; Herrera, F., Large-scale group decision making model based on social network analysis: Trust relationship-based conflict detection and elimination, European Journal of Operational Research, 275, 737-754 (2019) · Zbl 1431.91114
[28] Wu, T.; Zhang, K.; Liu, X.; Cao, C., A two-stage social trust network partition model for large-scale group decision-making problems, Knowledge-Based Systems, 163, 632-643 (2019)
[29] Wu, J.; Wang, S.; Chiclana, F.; Herrera-Viedma, E., Two-fold personalized feedback mechanism for social network consensus by uninorm interval trust propagation, IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, 52, 10, 11081-11092 (2022)
[30] Liu, X.; Xu, Y.; Herrera, F., Consensus model for large-scale group decision making based on fuzzy preference relation with self-confidence: Detecting and managing overconfidence behaviors, Information Fusion, 52, 245-256 (2019)
[31] Dong, Y.; Zhang, H.; Herrera-Viedma, E., Consensus reaching model in the complex and dynamic MAGDM problem, Knowledge-Based Systems, 106, 206-219 (2016)
[32] Wu, J.; Chiclana, F.; Fujita, H.; Herrera-Viedma, E., A visual interaction consensus model for social network group decision making with trust propagation, Knowledge-Based Systems, 122, 39-50 (2017)
[33] Dong, Y.; Ding, Z.; Martínez, L.; Herrera, F., Managing consensus based on leadership in opinion dynamics, Information Sciences, 397-398, 187-205 (2017) · Zbl 1429.91260
[34] Zhang, Z.; Li, Z. L.; Gao, Y., Consensus reaching for group decision making with multi-granular unbalanced linguistic information: A bounded confidence and minimum adjustment-based approach, Information Fusion, 74, 96-110 (2021)
[35] Xu, Z., Intuitionistic preference relations and their application in group decision making, Information Sciences, 177, 2363-2379 (2007) · Zbl 1286.91043
[36] Wu, J.; Xiong, R.; Chiclana, F., Uninorm trust propagation and aggregation methods for group decision making in social network with four tuple information, Knowledge-Based Systems, 96, 29-39 (2016)
[37] Birtolo, C.; Ronca, D., Advances in clustering collaborative filtering by means of fuzzy C-means and trust, Expert Systems with Applications, 40, 6997-7009 (2013)
[38] Xue, M.; Fu, C.; Yang, S., Dynamic expert reliability based feedback mechanism in consensus reaching process with distributed preference relations, Group Decision and Negotiation, 30, 341-375 (2020)
[39] J.B. Macqueen. Some methods for classification and analysis of multivariate observations, in: Proceedings of the Fifth Berkeley Symposium on Mathematical Statistics and Probability. 1967. · Zbl 0214.46201
[40] Steinley, D., Local optima in K-Means clustering: what you don’t know may hurt you, Psychological Methods, 8, 294-304 (2003)
[41] Gonzalez, T. F., Clustering to minimize the maximum intercluster distance, Theoretical Computer Science, 38, 293-306 (1985) · Zbl 0567.62048
[42] Wu, J.; Sun, Q.; Fujita, H.; Chiclana, F., An attitudinal consensus degree to control the feedback mechanism in group decision making with different adjustment cost, Knowledge-Based Systems, 164, 265-273 (2019)
[43] Yager, R. R., Quantifier guided aggregation using OWA operators, International Journal of Intelligent Systems, 11, 49-73 (1996)
[44] Guinée, J. B.; Lindeijer, E., Handbook on life cycle assessment: operational guide to the ISO standards (2002), Springer Science & Business Media
[45] Azapagic, A.; Clift, R., Life cycle assessment and multiobjective optimisation, Journal of Cleaner Production, 7, 2, 135-143 (1999)
[46] Beuren, F. H.; Ferreira, M.; Miguel, P., Product-service systems: a literature review on integrated products and services, Journal of Cleaner Production, 47, 222-231 (2013)
[47] Cheng, D.; Zhou, Z.; Cheng, F.; Zhou, Y.; Xie, Y., Modeling the minimum cost consensus problem in an asymmetric costs context, European Journal of Operational Research, 270, 3, 1122-1137 (2018) · Zbl 1403.91105
This reference list is based on information provided by the publisher or from digital mathematics libraries. Its items are heuristically matched to zbMATH identifiers and may contain data conversion errors. In some cases that data have been complemented/enhanced by data from zbMATH Open. This attempts to reflect the references listed in the original paper as accurately as possible without claiming completeness or a perfect matching.