Proposal of a Hesitant Fuzzy Linguistic TOPSIS model for Supplier Sustainability Evaluation

Abstract

Objective: The literature presents several multi-criteria models to support the evaluation of supplier sustainability. However, most of them deals with the environmental, social and economic dimensions in a compensatory way, and none allow the use of linguistic expressions. In order to fill these gaps, this study proposes a decision-making model, based on the Hesitant Fuzzy Linguistic (HFL) TOPSIS method, to support the supplier sustainability evaluation. Method: It can be classified as quantitative research based on modeling and simulation. The research stages encompass bibliographical research, computational modeling, pilot application in a company and analysis of results. The implementation of four computational models based on HFL-TOPSIS was done using Microsoft Excel. Results and conclusion: Results of the pilot application indicated that the model is capable of providing consistent results which are easily interpretable by the decision maker. In the application in question, economic criteria received greater weight, which reflects the priorities of the company in question. The evaluation of six suppliers by a decision maker made it possible to categorize them in a three-dimensional matrix. Research Implications: The proposed model provides support for the elaboration of supplier development programs. Another benefit is related to modeling sustainability dimensions in a non-compensatory way. Thus, if a supplier achieves high performance in one dimension, this does not compensate for a possible low performance in another dimension. Originality: In contrast to the previous approaches, It supports modeling preferences in a way closer to human cognition. It also deals with situations in which there is hesitation in choosing linguistic terms.