IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/endesu/v22y2020i7d10.1007_s10668-019-00464-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Development of sustainability index using Z-numbers: a new possibilistic hierarchical model in the context of Z-information

Author

Listed:
  • Sepehr Hendiani

    (Iran University of Science and Technology)

  • Morteza Bagherpour

    (Iran University of Science and Technology)

Abstract

Nowadays sustainability improvement is one of the most important duties of each system and organization. A sustainable system first needs to measure the current condition of sustainability precisely and then tends to apply modifications for the sake of enhancing the quality of performance. Regarding the existence of unreliability in data, and while sustainability measurement always deals with calculations, practitioners and experts are not commonly able to obtain an accurate status for sustainability in associated systems. In light of this exigency, the fuzzy sets have been incorporated with sustainability evaluations in several studies to handle uncertainty and vagueness conditions. Meanwhile, the reliability of the data was still intact. This study aims at satisfying this constraint by adopting the concept of Z-numbers through sustainability appraisals. By using the proposed model, the unreliable data can be transformed into possibilistic fuzzy sets to remove the mathematical sophistications. The Z-number-based approach also can be transferred into conventional fuzzy sets when experts are fully confident about deterministic inputs. The proposed model then is applied to a freight transportation sustainability evaluation as an illustrative case to elucidate the application of the proposed model in real-world cases. The elaborated approach is validated by both conventional fuzzy sets and crisp approach, and the superiority of the model is demonstrated by more reasonable results and wide applications. Note that this approach can be used as a benchmark for evaluating sustainability in diverse systems in light of time.

Suggested Citation

  • Sepehr Hendiani & Morteza Bagherpour, 2020. "Development of sustainability index using Z-numbers: a new possibilistic hierarchical model in the context of Z-information," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(7), pages 6077-6109, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:22:y:2020:i:7:d:10.1007_s10668-019-00464-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s10668-019-00464-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10668-019-00464-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10668-019-00464-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hanley, Nick & Moffatt, Ian & Faichney, Robin & Wilson, Mike, 1999. "Measuring sustainability: A time series of alternative indicators for Scotland," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 55-73, January.
    2. Lin, Ching-Torng & Chiu, Hero & Tseng, Yi-Hong, 2006. "Agility evaluation using fuzzy logic," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(2), pages 353-368, June.
    3. Raghbendra Jha & K.V. Bhanu Murthy, 2003. "A Critique of the Environmental Sustainability Index," Departmental Working Papers 2003-08, The Australian National University, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics.
    4. Ness, Barry & Urbel-Piirsalu, Evelin & Anderberg, Stefan & Olsson, Lennart, 2007. "Categorising tools for sustainability assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 498-508, January.
    5. Bai, Chunguang & Sarkis, Joseph, 2010. "Integrating sustainability into supplier selection with grey system and rough set methodologies," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(1), pages 252-264, March.
    6. Phillis, Yannis A. & Andriantiatsaholiniaina, Luc A., 2001. "Sustainability: an ill-defined concept and its assessment using fuzzy logic," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 435-456, June.
    7. Ren, Jingzheng, 2018. "Sustainability prioritization of energy storage technologies for promoting the development of renewable energy: A novel intuitionistic fuzzy combinative distance-based assessment approach," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 666-676.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mahdi Anbari Moghadam & Morteza Bagherpour, 2024. "A framework to assess and report social, environmental, and economic post-disaster damages based on Z-numbers and the Delphi method," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 120(15), pages 14459-14494, December.
    2. Monica C. M. Parlato & Francesca Valenti & Simona M. C. Porto, 2022. "Sustainable Promotion of Traditional Rural Buildings as Built Heritage Attractions: A Heritage Interpretation Methodology Applied in South Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-20, December.
    3. Seyed Amirali Hoseini & Alireza Fallahpour & Kuan Yew Wong & Amir Mahdiyar & Morteza Saberi & Serdar Durdyev, 2021. "Sustainable Supplier Selection in Construction Industry through Hybrid Fuzzy-Based Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-19, January.
    4. Anu P. Alex & V. S. Manju & V. Hima & Leema Peter, 2023. "Assessment of sustainable mobility indicators for an emerging satellite city in India," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(9), pages 10447-10463, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ferng, Jiun-Jiun, 2014. "Nested open systems: An important concept for applying ecological footprint analysis to sustainable development assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 105-111.
    2. Juana Rivera-Lirio & María Muñoz-Torres, 2010. "The Effectiveness of the Public Support Policies for the European Industry Financing as a Contribution to Sustainable Development," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 94(4), pages 489-515, July.
    3. Janmontree, Jettarat & Zadek, Hartmut, 2020. "Development of sustainability performance measurement framework for measuring complex sustainability impacts in the manufacturing industry," Chapters from the Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Logistics (HICL), in: Jahn, Carlos & Kersten, Wolfgang & Ringle, Christian M. (ed.), Data Science in Maritime and City Logistics: Data-driven Solutions for Logistics and Sustainability. Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conferen, volume 30, pages 3-31, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute of Business Logistics and General Management.
    4. Chunguang Bai & Behnam Fahimnia & Joseph Sarkis, 2017. "Sustainable transport fleet appraisal using a hybrid multi-objective decision making approach," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 250(2), pages 309-340, March.
    5. Eleonora Bottani & Maria Carmen Gentilotti & Marta Rinaldi, 2017. "A Fuzzy Logic-Based Tool for the Assessment of Corporate Sustainability: A Case Study in the Food Machinery Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-29, April.
    6. Rubio Rodríguez, M.A. & Ruyck, J. De & Díaz, P. Roque & Verma, V.K. & Bram, S., 2011. "An LCA based indicator for evaluation of alternative energy routes," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 630-635, March.
    7. Scott, James & Ho, William & Dey, Prasanta K. & Talluri, Srinivas, 2015. "A decision support system for supplier selection and order allocation in stochastic, multi-stakeholder and multi-criteria environments," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 226-237.
    8. Pishchulov, Grigory & Trautrims, Alexander & Chesney, Thomas & Gold, Stefan & Schwab, Leila, 2019. "The Voting Analytic Hierarchy Process revisited: A revised method with application to sustainable supplier selection," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 166-179.
    9. Figge, Frank & Hahn, Tobias & Barkemeyer, Ralf, 2014. "The If, How and Where of assessing sustainable resource use," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 274-283.
    10. L. Hay & A. H. B. Duffy & R. I. Whitfield, 2017. "The S‐Cycle Performance Matrix: Supporting Comprehensive Sustainability Performance Evaluation of Technical Systems," Systems Engineering, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(1), pages 45-70, January.
    11. Mostafa Shaaban & Jürgen Scheffran & Jürgen Böhner & Mohamed S. Elsobki, 2018. "Sustainability Assessment of Electricity Generation Technologies in Egypt Using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-25, May.
    12. Ngoc-Ninh Ho & Truong Lam Do & Dinh-Thao Tran & Trung Thanh Nguyen, 2022. "Indigenous pig production and welfare of ultra-poor ethnic minority households in the Northern mountains of Vietnam," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 156-179, January.
    13. Schilling, Markus & Chiang, Lichun, 2011. "The effect of natural resources on a sustainable development policy: The approach of non-sustainable externalities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 990-998, February.
    14. Alexandra Doernberg & Annette Piorr & Ingo Zasada & Dirk Wascher & Ulrich Schmutz, 2022. "Sustainability assessment of short food supply chains (SFSC): developing and testing a rapid assessment tool in one African and three European city regions," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(3), pages 885-904, September.
    15. Oriana Gava & Fabio Bartolini & Francesca Venturi & Gianluca Brunori & Angela Zinnai & Alberto Pardossi, 2018. "A Reflection of the Use of the Life Cycle Assessment Tool for Agri-Food Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-16, December.
    16. Weiwei Li & Pingtao Yi & Danning Zhang, 2018. "Sustainability Evaluation of Cities in Northeastern China Using Dynamic TOPSIS-Entropy Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-15, December.
    17. Michinori Uwasu & Keishiro Hara & Masashi Kuroda & Ji Han, 2024. "Assessing the Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Environmental Sustainability in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-14, June.
    18. Chunguang Bai & Joseph Sarkis, 2013. "Green information technology strategic justification and evaluation," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 15(5), pages 831-847, November.
    19. Carlo Carraro & Lorenza Campagnolo & Fabio Eboli & Elisa Lanzi & Ramiro Parrado & Elisa Portale, 2012. "Quantifying Sustainability: A New Approach and World Ranking," Working Papers 2012.94, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    20. Amin Mahmoudi & Saad Ahmed Javed, 2022. "Probabilistic Approach to Multi-Stage Supplier Evaluation: Confidence Level Measurement in Ordinal Priority Approach," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 31(5), pages 1051-1096, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:22:y:2020:i:7:d:10.1007_s10668-019-00464-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.