Sustainable Cloud Service Provider Development by a Z-Number-Based DNMA Method with Gini-Coefficient-Based Weight Determination

Han Lai, Huchang Liao, Jonas Šaparauskas, Audrius Banaitis, Fernando A. F. Ferreira and Abdullah Al-Barakati
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Han Lai: Chongqing Engineering Laboratory for Detection, Control and Integrated System, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing 400067, China
Huchang Liao: Business School, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China
Jonas Šaparauskas: Department of Construction Management and Real Estate, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Vilnius LT-10223, Lithuania
Audrius Banaitis: Department of Construction Management and Real Estate, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Vilnius LT-10223, Lithuania
Fernando A. F. Ferreira: ISCTE Business School, BRU-IUL, University Institute of Lisbon, Avenida das Forças Armadas, 1649-026 Lisbon, Portugal
Abdullah Al-Barakati: Faculty of Computing and Information Technology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 8, 1-17

Abstract: The sustainable development of cloud service providers (CSPs) is a significant multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) problem, involving the intrinsic relations among multiple alternatives, (quantitative and qualitative) decision criteria and decision-experts for the selection of trustworthy CSPs. Most existing MCDM methods for CSP selection incorporated only one normalization technique in benefit and cost criteria, which would mislead the decision results and limit the applications of these methods. In addition, these methods did not consider the reliability of information given by decision-makers. Given these research gaps, this study introduces a Z-number-based double normalization-based multiple aggregation (DNMA) method to tackle quantitative and qualitative criteria in forms of benefit, cost, and target types for sustainable CSP development. We extend the original DNMA method to the Z-number environment to handle the uncertain and unreliability information of decision-makers. To make trade-offs between normalized criteria values, we develop a Gini-coefficient based weighting method to replace the mean-square-based weighting method used in the original DNMA method to enhance the applicability and isotonicity of the DNMA method. A case study is conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Furthermore, comparative analysis and sensitivity analysis are implemented to test the stability and applicability of the proposed method.

Keywords: multiple criteria decision making; sustainable development; cloud service provider selection; double normalization-based multiple aggregation (DNMA) method; Z number; Gini coefficient (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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