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The Analytic Hierarchy Process and the Theory of Measurement

Author

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  • Michele Bernasconi

    (Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche and SSE, Università "Ca' Foscari," I-30121 Venezia, Italy)

  • Christine Choirat

    (Department of Quantitative Methods, School of Economics and Business Management, Universidad de Navarra, E-31080 Pamplona, Spain)

  • Raffaello Seri

    (Dipartimento di Economia, Università dell'Insubria, I-21100 Varese, Italy)

Abstract

The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is a decision-making procedure widely used in management for establishing priorities in multicriteria decision problems. Underlying the AHP is the theory of ratio-scale measures developed in psychophysics since the middle of the last century. It is, however, well known that classical ratio-scaling approaches have several problems. We reconsider the AHP in the light of the modern theory of measurement based on the so-called separable representations recently axiomatized in mathematical psychology. We provide various theoretical and empirical results on the extent to which the AHP can be considered a reliable decision-making procedure in terms of the modern theory of subjective measurement.

Suggested Citation

  • Michele Bernasconi & Christine Choirat & Raffaello Seri, 2010. "The Analytic Hierarchy Process and the Theory of Measurement," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(4), pages 699-711, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:56:y:2010:i:4:p:699-711
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.1090.1123
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Changsheng Lin & Gang Kou & Daji Ergu, 2013. "An improved statistical approach for consistency test in AHP," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 211(1), pages 289-299, December.
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    4. Jih-Jeng Huang, 2021. "Analytic Hierarchy Process with the Correlation Effect via WordNet," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-13, April.
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    7. José Luis Galdón Salvador & Gabriel Marín Díaz, 2024. "Enhancing Business Decision Making through a New Corporate Reputation Measurement Model: Practical Application in a Supplier Selection Process," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-28, January.
    8. Paulius Šūmakaris & Kristina Kovaitė & Renata Korsakienė, 2023. "An Integrated Approach to Evaluating Eco-Innovation Strategies from the Perspective of Strategic Green Transformation: A Case of the Lithuanian Furniture Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-33, June.
    9. Liu, Fang & Zou, Shu-Cai & Li, Qing, 2020. "Deriving priorities from pairwise comparison matrices with a novel consistency index," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 374(C).
    10. Michele Bernasconi & Christine Choirat & Raffaello Seri, 2009. "A re-examination of the algebraic properties of the AHP as a ratio-scaling technique," Working Papers 2009_23, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    11. Akshay Hinduja & Manju Pandey, 2019. "A Distance-based Method for Computing Priorities of Intuitionistic Fuzzy Preference Relation and Its Application in AHP," Vision, , vol. 23(4), pages 329-340, December.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    ratio scales; subjective weighting; decision making;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C44 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Operations Research; Statistical Decision Theory

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