Compatible weighting method with rank order centroid: Maximum entropy ordered weighted averaging approach

Abstract

In a situation where imprecise attribute weights such as a rank order are captured, various approximate weighting methods have been proposed to aid multiattribute decision analysis. Among others, it is well known that the rank order centroid (ROC) weights result in the highest performance in terms of the identification of the best alternative under the ranked attribute weights. In this paper, we aim to reinterpret the meaning of the ROC weights and to develop a compatible weighting method that is based on other well-established academic disciplines. The ordered weighted averaging (OWA) method is a nonlinear aggregation method in that the weights are associated with the objects reordered according to their magnitudes in the aggregation process. Some interesting semantics can be attached to the approximate weights in view of the measure developed in the OWA method. Furthermore, the weights generated by the maximum entropy method show equally compatible performance with the ROC weights under some condition, which is demonstrated by theoretical and simulation analysis. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.