On Some Advancements within Certain Multicriteria Decision Making Support Methodology

Abstract

Deriving true priority vectors from intuitive pairwise comparison matrices (PCMs) and consistency measurement of decision makers judgments about their genuine weights are crucial issues within the multicriteria decision making support methodology called Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The most popular procedure in the ranking process, constitutes the Right Eigenvector Method (REV). The inventor of the AHP convinces that as long as inconsistent PCMs are allowed in the AHP none of the other existing procedures qualify and the REV provides the only right solution in this process. The objective of this scientific paper is to examine if the former opinion can be considered as experimentally confirmed. For this purpose it was decided to apply Monte Carlo methodology. However, rather than simulate and analyze simulations results for a single PCM, as it has been done so far by many other authors, we decided to design and analyze computer simulations results for a singular model of the AHP framework. Our findings lead to inevitable conclusion that the REV cannot longer be perceived as a dominant procedure within the AHP methodology, especially when nonreciprocal PCMs are considered. It was verified empirically in our research that in the situation when nonreciprocal PCMs are considered the REV impoverishes the entire AHP methodology by its lack of PCMs inconsistency measure in such cases. Moreover, it provides less accurate rankings for a particular decision in comparison to other presented methods. It was also unequivocally verified that the enforced reciprocity of PCM leads directly to worse estimates of priorities weights. Altogether, it seems very important from the perspective of methodology supporting multicriteria decision making, the crucial process embedded in most of management activity. In the consequence, because the REV recedes other prioritization procedures available for the AHP methodology, it is advised to consider them instead, especially under some circumstances of an important and very tight managerial decisions.