Influence of aggregation and measurement scale on ranking a compromise alternative in AHP

Alessio Ishizaka, Dieter Balkenborg and Todd Kaplan

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is one of the most popular multi-attribute decision aid methods. However, within AHP, there are several competing preference measurement scales and aggregation techniques. In this paper, we compare these possibilities using a decision problem with an inherent trade-off between two criteria. A decision-maker has to choose among three alternatives: two extremes and one compromise. Six different measurement scales described previously in the literature and the new proposed logarithmic scale are considered for applying the additive and the multiplicative aggregation techniques. The results are compared with the standard consumer choice theory. We find that with the geometric and power scales a compromise is never selected when aggregation is additive and rarely when aggregation is multiplicative, while the logarithmic scale used with the multiplicative aggregation most often selects the compromise that is desirable by consumer choice theory.

Keywords: AHP; Multi-criteria Decision analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C60 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-12-20
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Influence of aggregation and measurement scale on ranking a compromise alternative in AHP (2011)
Working Paper: Influence of aggregation and measurement scale on ranking a compromise alternative in AHP (2005)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:19563

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