Novel m-Polar Fuzzy Linguistic ELECTRE-I Method for Group Decision-Making

Abstract

Linguistic variables play a vital role in several qualitative decision environments, in which decision-makers assume several feasible linguistic values or criteria instead of a single term for an alternative or variable. The motivation for the use of words or sentences instead of numbers is that linguistic classification and characterizations are generally less precise than numerical ones. In this research article, we encourage the fuzzy linguistic approach and introduce the novel concept known as m-polar fuzzy linguistic variable (mFLV) to increase the affluence of linguistic variables based on m-polar fuzzy (mF) approach. An mF set is an effective concept for interpreting uncertainty and fuzziness. The concept of mFLV is more versatile and sensible for dealing with real-life problems, when data comes from qualitative and multipolar information. We also introduce an mF linguistic ELECTRE-I approach to solve multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) and multiple-criteria group decision-making (MCGDM) problems, where the evaluation of the alternatives under suitable linguistic values are determined by the decision-makers. Furthermore, we validate the efficiency of our proposed technique by applying it to real-life examples, such as the salary analysis of companies and by selecting a corrupt country. Finally, we develop an algorithm of our proposed approach, present its flow chart, and generate computer programming code.