Decision consolidation: criteria weight determination using multiple preference formats

In multiple criteria decision making (MCDM), decision makers (DMs) always give preferences information on alternatives, criteria or decision matrices. Since the DMs may have diverse cultural and educational background and value systems, their preference would be expressed in different ways. This is especially true in cyberspace. In this study, the DMs are asked to express their preferences on a variety of criteria using any one of the following preference formats: preference orderings, utility values, multiplicative preference relation, selected subset, fuzzy selected subset, normal preference relation, fuzzy preference relation, linguistic terms, and pairwise comparison. In addition, we propose a uniformity method and an aggregating method to provide both convenience and accuracy in generating the final outcome and higher DM satisfaction. Finally, the validity of using multiple preference formats in criteria weight determination is verified through an experiment.