A model based on subjective linguistic preference relations for group decision making problems

In a group decision making problem, experts often express their opinions through the so-called preference relations. In recent years, several different definitions of preference relations depending on the framework and the nature of the problem have been introduced. These approaches vary from interval-valued fuzzy preference relations to incomplete fuzzy linguistic preference relations. In this paper, a novel definition of preference relation, the so-called subjective linguistic preference relation, is proposed. These preference relations are based on the concept of subjective evaluations, introduced in the linguistic computational model based on discrete fuzzy numbers. In this framework, the experts have more flexibility to express their opinions and the solid mathematical background of this model is a guarantee of no loss of information. Finally, an example of a multi-expert decision making problem with a hierarchical multi-granular linguistic context is analyzed to illustrate the potential of the proposed method and its advantages with respect to other methods. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.