Decision making with Dempster-Shafer belief structure and the OWAWA operator

Abstract

A new decision making model that uses the weighted average and the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operator in the Dempster-Shafer belief structure is presented. Thus, we are able to represent the decision making problem considering objective and subjective information and the attitudinal character of the decision maker. For doing so, we use the ordered weighted averaging – weighted average (OWAWA) operator. It is an aggregation operator that unifies the weighted average and the OWA in the same formulation. This approach is generalized by using quasi-arithmetic means and group decision making techniques. An application of the new approach in a group decision making problem concerning political management of a country is also developed.

Keywords:

• decision making
• OWA operator
• weighted average
• Dempster-Shafer belief structure
• aggregation operators
• political management

JEL Classification:

• C44
• C49
• D81
• D89

Additional information

Notes on contributors

José M. Merigó

José M. MERIGÓ has a MSc and a PhD degrees in Business Administration from University of Barcelona, Spain. His PhD received the Extraordinary Award from the University of Barcelona. He also holds a Bachelor's Degree in Economics and a Master's Degree in European Business Administration and Business Law from Lund University, Sweden. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Business Administration at the University of Barcelona. He has published more than 200 papers in journals, books and conference proceedings including journals such as Information Sciences, International Journal of Information Technology and Decision Making, Technological and Economic Development of Economy, Expert Systems with Applications, International Journal of Intelligent Systems, International Journal of Uncertainty, Fuzziness and Knowledge-Based Systems, Cybernetics & Systems, Computers & Industrial Engineering, Applied and Computational Mathematics, International Journal of Computational Intelligence Systems and International Journal of Fuzzy Systems. He has published 8 books including one edited with World Scientific “Computational Intelligence in Business and Economics” and three with Springer. He is on the editorial board of several journals including the Journal of Advanced Research on Fuzzy and Uncertain Systems and the ISTP Transactions of Systems & Cybernetics. He has participated in several scientific committees and serves as a reviewer in a wide range of journals. He is currently interested in aggregation operators, decision making and uncertainty.

Kurt J. Engemann

Kurt J. ENGEMANN is a Full Professor in the Department of Information Systems at Hagan School of Business at Iona College (New Rochelle, New York, USA). He holds a PhD in Operations Research from New York University. He is also the Director of the Center for Business Continuity and Risk Management (BCRM) at Iona College. He has consulted professionally over the past thirty years in the area of risk management and decision modelling for major organizations and has been instrumental in the development and implementation of comprehensive business continuity management programs. He is a Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) with the Disaster Recovery Institute International. He has published more than 150 publications in journals, books and conference proceedings including journals such as International Journal of Intelligent Systems, Interfaces, International Journal of General Systems and International Journal of Uncertainty, Fuzziness and Knowledge-Based Systems. He has published several books and has participated in a wide range of scientific committees. He is the editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management and the International Journal of Business Continuity and Risk Management. He has served as a reviewer in a wide range of journals.

Daniel Palacios-Marqués

Daniel PALACIOS-MARQUÉS is an Associate Professor of Management at the Technical University of Valencia, Spain. He has an MBA and a PhD in Quality Management and Business Administration. He has published articles in journals such as Tourism Management, Annals of Tourism Research, Small Business Economics, Management Decision, International Journal of Technology Management, Cornell Quarterly Management, Services Industries Journal, Service Business, International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Journal of Knowledge Management, Journal of Intellectual Capital, International Journal of Innovation Management and International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. He has been Editor of the book Connectivity and Knowledge Management in Virtual Organizations, Networking and Developing Interactive Communications.