Reference-Dependent Aggregation in Multi-Attribute Group Decision-Making

To characterize the influence of decision makers' psychological factors on the group decision process, this paper develops a new class of aggregation operators based on reference-dependent utility functions (RUs) in multi-attribute group decision analysis. We consider two types of RUs: S-shaped, representing decision makers who are risk-seeking for relative losses, and non-S-shaped, representing those that are risk-averse for relative losses. Based on these RUs, we establish two new classes of reference-dependent aggregation operators; we study their properties and show that their generality covers a number of existing aggregation operators. To determine the optimal weights for these aggregation operators, we construct an attribute deviation weight model and a decision maker (DM) deviation weight model. Furthermore, we develop a new multi-attribute group decision-making (MAGDM) approach based on these RU aggregation operators and weight models. Finally, numerical examples are given to illustrate the application of the approach.