Group decision making with hesitant fuzzy linguistic preference relations based on modified extent measurement

The paper presents a consensus model for group decision making (GDM) with hesitant fuzzy linguistic preference relations (HFLPRs), which is composed of two parts: (1) clustering HFLPRs by mapping them into a higher dimension space based on a kernel function; (2) building a consensus model based on measuring the modified extents of decision makers? HFLPRs for reducing the biased judgements existing in their less-familiar ways. The paper further makes comprehensive analyses for the proposed model on: (1) the influence of decision makers? different sensitive attitudes towards the distances between the individual HFLPRs and the overall HFLPRs on decision-making results; (2) the differences and complexities of another model with a different consensus perspective and the proposed model. The experimental analyses provide the support for the maximum modified extent determination in different decision scenarios, and show that the proposed consensus model makes sense. Finally, the proposed model is illustrated by the application in choosing an optimal flood discharge technique for a hydropower station.