Hesitant intuitionistic fuzzy linguistic aggregation operators and their applications to multiple attribute decision making

This paper investigates the multiple attribute decision making (MADM) problems in which the attribute values take the form of hesitant intuitionistic fuzzy linguistic elements (HIFLEs). Firstly, motivated by the idea of hesitant fuzzy linguistic elements and intuitionistic fuzzy numbers, the concept, operational laws and comparison laws of HIFLEs are defined. Then, some aggregation operators are developed for aggregating the hesitant intuitionistic fuzzy linguistic information, such as hesitant intuitionistic fuzzy linguistic weighted aggregation operators, hesitant intuitionistic fuzzy linguistic ordered weighted aggregation operators and hesitant intuitionistic fuzzy linguistic hybrid aggregation operators. Some desirable properties of these operators and the relationships between them are discussed. Furthermore, the hesitant intuitionistic fuzzy linguistic set is extended to hesitant intuitionistic fuzzy uncertain linguistic set, and some hesitant intuitionistic fuzzy uncertain linguistic aggregation operators are developed. Based on the hesitant intuitionistic fuzzy linguistic weighted average (HIFLWA) operator, an approach to MADM is proposed under hesitant intuitionistic fuzzy linguistic environment. Finally, a practical example is given to illustrate the application of the proposed method and to demonstrate its practicality and effectiveness.