Consistency and consensus models for group decision-making with uncertain 2-tuple linguistic preference relations

Abstract

Due to the uncertainty of the decision environment and the lack of knowledge, decision-makers may use uncertain linguistic preference relations to express their preferences over alternatives and criteria. For group decision-making problems with preference relations, it is important to consider the individual consistency and the group consensus before aggregating the preference information. In this paper, consistency and consensus models for group decision-making with uncertain 2-tuple linguistic preference relations (U2TLPRs) are investigated. First of all, a formula which can construct a consistent U2TLPR from the original preference relation is presented. Based on the consistent preference relation, the individual consistency index for a U2TLPR is defined. An iterative algorithm is then developed to improve the individual consistency of a U2TLPR. To help decision-makers reach consensus in group decision-making under uncertain linguistic environment, the individual consensus and group consensus indices for group decision-making with U2TLPRs are defined. Based on the two indices, an algorithm for consensus reaching in group decision-making with U2TLPRs is also developed. Finally, two examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.