TODIM method for probabilistic linguistic multiple attribute group decision making based on the similarity measures and entropy

Abstract

Recently, the TODIM (an acronym in Portuguese for Interactive Multi-criteria Decision Making) method, which can characterize the decision makers’ psychological behaviors under risk, has been introduced to handle multiple attribute group decision making (MAGDM) problems. Moreover, the probabilistic linguistic term sets (PLTSs) are effective tool for depicting uncertainty of the MAGDM problems. In this paper, we extend the TODIM method to the MAGDM with PLTSs. Firstly, the definition, comparative method and distance of PLTSs are simply introduced, and the steps of the classical TODIM method for MAGDM problems are presented. Then, on the basis of the conventional TODIM method, the extended TODIM method is proposed to deal with MAGDM problems in which the attribute values are depicted in the PLTSs, and its significant characteristic is that it can fully consider the decision makers’ bounded rationality which is a real action in decision making. Finally, a numerical example for green supplier selection is proposed to verify the developed approach and its practicality and effectiveness.