An integrated fuzzy decision model for prioritization of barriers affecting sustainability adoption within supply chains under unknown weight context

Industry 4.0 and the emergence of the circular economy have inspired industries to rigorously concentrate on digital technologies (DTs). There is an excellent appetite for DTs in developing countries like India, and initiatives such as Digital India have transformed business to a more sustainable dimension. Encouraged to adopt DTs, industries identify practical barriers at the social, environmental and economic levels. Although the literature provides discussion on these barriers, a rational prioritization is lacking. To circumvent the problem, a fuzzy decision model is put forward. Firstly, the barriers affecting DT adoption are reviewed and industry experts can rate the barriers after that. Owing to the diversification/heterogeneity of the experts, biased weights are determined by the fuzzy-attitudinal-CRiteria Importance Through Inter-criteria Correlation (CRITIC) technique. Furthermore, the barriers are prioritized by proposing the interactive COomplex PRoportional ASsessment (COPRAS) algorithm. Finally, a case example from the food industry is exemplified so as to understand the usefulness of the model, and a comparison with the other models is made so as to realize the benefits and the shortcomings.