Abstract
PurposeDecision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) are commonly used separately, but also may be combined per their common characteristics to identify causal relationships and hierarchical structure among factors in complex systems with a relatively small computational burden. The purpose of this study is to establish an improved DEMATEL-ISM integration approach to remedy the disadvantages of the traditional DEMATEL-ISM integration method. A case study was conducted to compare the proposed improved integration approach against the traditional integration method, and to validate its feasibility and effectiveness.MethodsThe proposed improved DEMATEL-ISM integration approach has two main parts: a threshold determination via maximum mean de-entropy (MMDE) method and an additional transitivity check process. The factors influencing China’s rural-urban floating population’s willingness to participate in social insurance was analyzed as a case study.ResultsThe traditional and improved methods show notable differences in the hierarchical factor structure and the inner influence relationship among factors that they respectively reveal. The traditional integration approach results in some irrationality, while the improved approach does not.OriginalityThis study confirms the importance of proper threshold determination and reachability matrix transitivity checking during DEMATEL-ISM integration. The improved approach includes a scientific threshold determination method based on the MMDE method, plus a transitivity check of the reachability matrix with necessary corrections to ensure its soundness. It can be straightforwardly operated at a relatively low computational burden while providing accurate analysis results.
Highlights
Modern organizations are faced with increasingly intense complexity and uncertainty in today’s competitive market environment
This study confirms the importance of proper threshold determination and reachability matrix transitivity checking during Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL)-Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) integration
DEMATEL supports the development of knowledge and experience; it allows for analysis of the logical correlations and direct-influence relationships between various factors in complex systems, revealing key factors
Summary
Modern organizations are faced with increasingly intense complexity and uncertainty in today’s competitive market environment. DEMATEL serves to first simplify the multi-factor system structure and screen out the main influence factors. DEMATEL supports the development of knowledge and experience; it allows for analysis of the logical correlations and direct-influence relationships between various factors in complex systems, revealing key factors. ISM has multi-level hierarchy and can express ambiguous systems with intuitive structural relations, facilitating the objective analysis of complex problems. It has been extensively investigated by researchers in multiple fields [6,7,8]
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