AHP Framework for Group Decision-Making under Hesitant Fuzzy Preference Relations

Abstract

multi-criteria group decision-making problems with uncertainty based on hesitant fuzzy reference relations by the analytic hierarchy process. Although existing methods are advanced, they basically rely on the traditional preference models, which cannot effectively describe the hesitation and inconsistency that are seen naturally in an expert evaluation due to the limited characteristics of the existing methods. As the existing methods only rely on traditional preference models and cannot effectively describe the hesitation and inconsistency, this study introduces a TL-consistency based normalization strategy to normalize the incomplete hesitant fuzzy preference relations. The handling of group preferences involves a systematic process consisting of normalization, consistency assessment, agreement evaluation, and aggregation methods to ensure a consistent and analytically reliable representation of the group preference. In this phase, priority weights of the decision-makers from the previous two steps. The global alternatives rankings are derived by combining normalized hesitant fuzzy preference relations and forming a consistent evaluation matrix with a combined AHP. A numerical example illustrates the applicability of the approach, demonstrating the clarity and practical interpretability of the derived results and providing a case for generating strong decisions. This framework adds to the existing literature by increasing the possibility of consensus and consistency under conditions of ambiguity, subjectivity, and incomplete preference information in group decision-making settings.