Introducing MOWSCER Method for Multiple Criteria Group Decision-Making: A New Method of Weighting in the Structure of Cause and Effect Relationships

One of the most remarkable subjects in multi-criteria group decision-making (MCGDM) is determining the weight and importance of criteria. The weighting methods based on inputs are categorized in the manifold group. This paper presents a novel method for weighting the criteria in a network structure. This approach, namely MOWSCER, is used when the relationships among the criteria are modeled by a cause-and-effect directed graph. The directed graph demonstrates the cause and effect relationship among criteria. In the presented method, the criteria are divided into three groups. The basic idea of the criteria segmentation is derived from European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM). These groups include (1) effect criteria, (2) cause criteria, and (3) connector criteria. Then, the connector criteria are allocated fewer weights than the other two types. In other words, the introduced method follows two purposes of decreasing criteria number and appropriate allocating of weights among remaining criteria. Accordingly, first, the connector criteria are detected, so they are assigned less weight, and remained criteria are allocated a proper weight according to their importance. Furthermore, a new weighting method for determining the weights of decision makers (DMs) in group decision-making problems is presented to achieve a comprehensive manner. In the end, to prove the practicality of the proposed method, the weights of criteria and DMs are computed in a case study and two illustrative examples. Besides, to confirm the accuracy of that, it is compared with the DEMATEL method.