A Decision Making Method with Triangular Fuzzy Numbers for Unraveling the Criteria of E-Commerce

The fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (fuzzy DEMATEL) provides a causal relationship among criteria and computationally feasible method for addressing uncertain and ambiguous information in decision making. This paper aims to unravel the relationships between criteria of e-commerce using the fuzzy DEMATEL, where triangular fuzzy numbers are used to represent uncertain and ambiguous information. One hundred and twelve undergraduate students of mixed gender at a public university in Malaysia were invited to evaluate the criteria of e-commerce using a six-construct questionnaire. Linguistic scales that defined using triangular fuzzy numbers were employed in data collection. Data were analyzed using the nine-step of the DEMATEL method. The main contribution of this paper is the development of the causal relationship among the criteria of e-commerce that obtained from a total relation matrix of the fuzzy DEMATEL. It is found that ‘Ease of Use System’ was the most influencing criterion and ‘Information of Product or Services’ was the most important criterion. Not only did the fuzzy DEMATEL unravel the relationship among criteria, but it also identified the degree of importance among the criteria. The findings contribute to a better understanding about the criteria of e-commerce, where retailers could develop effective strategies in marketing and reciprocally, consumers would receive products and services with higher quality