ANALYZING PRIORITY VECTORS: GOING BEYOND INCONSISTENCY INDEXES

Abstract

A great concern when utilizing the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is how the final priority vector, resulting from the inconsistent analysis, behaves when compared with the original priority ranking, resulting from the consistent analysis. The AHP utilizes an inconsistency index to predict rank reversal. In addition to the original inconsistency index of the AHP, several authors have worked on developing alternative inconsistency indexes, with the goal of improving the predictability of rank reversal. However, inconsistency indexes do not help clarify whether a rank reversal is a rejectable outcome or, to some extent, the correct answer. A rank reversal may express the correct priority, particularly when some positions in the original priority rank have small weight differences among them. Therefore, it is very important to develop a method to allow a clear and definitive analysis on how disturbed the weights and ranking of the final priority vectors are when compared to their original consistent rankings. Such a method is developed here and its utilization is demonstrated by analyzing a corporate governance scenario.