A new group decision-making framework based on 2-tuple linguistic complex q-rung picture fuzzy sets

The need for multi-attribute decision-making brings more and more complexity, and this type of decision-making extends to an ever wider range of areas of life. A recent model that captures many components of decision-making frameworks is the complex q-rung picture fuzzy set (Cq-RPFS), a generalization of complex fuzzy sets and q-rung picture fuzzy sets. From a different standpoint, linguistic terms are very useful to evaluate qualitative information without specialized knowledge. In-spired by the ease of use of the linguistic evaluations by means of 2-tuple linguistic term sets, and the broad scope of applications of Cq-RPFSs, in this paper we introduce the novel structure called 2-tuple linguistic complex q-rung picture fuzzy sets (2TLCq-RPFSs). We argue that this model prevails to represent the two-dimensional information over the boundary of Cq-RPFSs, thanks to the additional features of 2-tuple linguistic terms. Subsequently, some 2TLCq-RPF aggregation operators are pro-posed. Fundamental cases include the 2TLCq-RPF weighted averaging/geometric operators. Other sophisticated aggregation operators that we propose are based on the Hamacher operator. In addition, we investigate some essential properties of the new operators. These tools are the building blocks of a multi-attribute decision making strategy for problems posed in the 2TLCq-RPFS setting. Furthermore, a numerical instance that selects an optimal machine is given to guarantee the applicability and effec-tiveness of the proposed approach. Finally, we conduct a comparison with other existing approaches.