An extended TODIM method for multiple attribute group decision making based on intuitionistic uncertain linguistic variables

Abstract

The intuitionistic uncertain linguistic variables are the good tools to express the fuzzy information, and the TODIM (an acronym in Portuguese of Interactive and Multicriteria Decision Making) method can consider the bounded rationality of decision makers based on the prospect theory. However, the classical TODIM method can only process the multiple attribute decision making (MADM) problems where the attribute values take the form of crisp numbers. In this paper, we will extend the TODIM method to the multiple attribute group decision making (MAGDM) with intuitionistic uncertain linguistic information. Firstly, the definition, characteristics, expectation, comparison method and distance of intuitionistic uncertain linguistic variables are briefly introduced, and the steps of the classical TODIM method for MADM problems are presented. Then, on the basis of the classical TODIM method, the extended TODIM method is proposed to deal with MAGDM problems with intuitionistic uncertain linguistic variables, and its significant characteristic is that it can fully consider the decision makers' bounded rationality which is a real action in decision making. Finally, an illustrative example is proposed to verify the developed approach.