An extended TODIM method for multiple attribute group decision‐making based on 2‐dimension uncertain linguistic Variable

Abstract

The significant characteristic of the TODIM (an acronym in Portuguese of Interactive and Multiple Attribute Decision Making) method is that it can consider the bounded rationality of the decision makers. However, in the classical TODIM method, the rating of the attributes only can be used in the form of crisp numbers. Because 2‐dimension uncertain linguistic variables can easily express the fuzzy information, in this article, we extend the TODIM method to 2‐dimension uncertain linguistic information. First of all, the definition, characteristics, expectation, comparative method and distance of 2‐dimension uncertain linguistic information are introduced, and the steps of the classical TODIM method for Multiple attribute decision making (MADM) problems are presented. Second, on the basis of the classical TODIM method, the extended TODIM method is proposed to deal with MADM problems in which the attribute values are in the form of 2‐dimension uncertain linguistic variables, and detailed decision steps are given. Its significant characteristic is that it can fully consider the bounded rationality of the decision makers, which is a real action in real decision making. Finally, a numerical example is provided to verify the developed approach and its practicality and effectiveness. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 21: 20–30, 2016