An integrated method for supplier selection from the perspective of risk aversion

Abstract

A lot of investigations have been published in the supplier selection area. However, few papers consider the problem from the perspective of risk aversion. In this paper, generalized intuitionistic fuzzy soft set (GIFSS) combined with extending gray relational analysis (GRA) method is proposed to select an appropriate supplier from the perspective of risk aversion in group decision-making environment. The proposed approach consists of two phases. In the first phase, the weights of decision makers are determined by using an extended GRA method with intuitionistic fuzzy soft set (IFSS). In traditional GRA method, the ideal reference is expressed in a vector, while, in this paper, the ideal reference for all individual decisions is expressed in a matrix, which is suitable for risk aversion. The weight of decision makers is utilized to aggregate individual opinions of decision makers. In the next phase, to eliminate the bias of decision makers in the choice of supplier and rule out the possibility of errors occurring in the evaluation of alternatives, the general manager will further validate it by utilized the GIFSS. Finally, a numerical example for supplier selection is given to illustrate application of the method, and the comparisons with other methods are also made.