Document Type : Research Article
Authors
Department of Industrial Engineering, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran.
10.30473/coam.2025.73429.1283
Abstract
Addressing complex decision-making scenarios, particularly those involving multiple criteria and expert perspectives, often requires robust frameworks capable of managing uncertainty and qualitative assessments. The Qualitative Absolute Order-of-Magnitude (QAOM) model offers a flexible approach for expressing subjective evaluations through linguistic terms with adjustable levels of detail. However, practical challenges remain in applying QAOM, including the absence of an inherent system for deriving attribute weights, limitations in coherently synthesizing the judgments from multiple experts, and the lack of systematic normalization procedures for negatively oriented attributes. To address these issues, this paper proposes an advanced multi-attribute group decision-making (MAGDM) framework fully embedded within the QAOM paradigm. The proposed solution introduces a mathematically consistent metric for comparing linguistic assessments, an entropy-based attribute weighting approach rooted in qualitative information, and an aggregation process that reflects expert diversity. Furthermore, a specialized normalization protocol is developed to handle negative attributes across heterogeneous scales. The feasibility and advantages of the method are validated through comprehensive examples and comparative analyses, highlighting improvements over traditional techniques in terms of objectivity, flexibility, and analytical depth. Overall, these developments markedly enhance the capabilities of QAOM-based MAGDM, equipping decision-makers with more nuanced and reliable tools for tackling complex problems characterized by imprecision and divergent expert opinions.
Highlights
- A novel decision-making framework has been proposed that enhances the traditional QAOM approach by incorporating entropy-based attribute weights, aggregating expert opinions, and normalizing negative (cost) attributes for more robust evaluations.
- An objective and consistent method for deriving attribute weights within the QAOM context using entropy measures has been introduced.
- A systematic technique for consolidating expert judgments, effectively accounting for differing levels of influence among decision-makers, has been presented.
- A new normalization approach for negative (cost) attributes in MAGDM problems has been developed, ensuring balanced and comprehensive decision assessments.
Keywords
- Qualitative reasoning
- Multi-attribute decision making
- Ranking
- Qualitative absolute order-of-magnitude
Main Subjects
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