Distance-Based Large-Scale Group Decision-Making Method with Group Influence

Large-scale group decision making (LSGDM), which involves a large number of decision makers, has become a hot topic in the field of decision making. To address LSGDM problems with hesitant information, in this paper, a distance-based LSGDM method is proposed by considering group influence. In the method, a generalized distance measure between two pieces of hesitant information is designed to overcome the limitations of existing distance measures. To accelerate the convergence of consensus reaching process with the consideration of the interaction among decision makers, decision makers are divided into several subgroups. The group leader is selected in terms of the contributions of decision makers to group consensus. In order to help generate a satisfactory solution by adequately considering the decision makers’ diverse opinions, the group discussion is introduced to clarify their opinions and minimize bias under the organization of the selected group leader. Based on the changes in the preference information before and after group discussion, the influence of each subgroup is generated and further applied to determine the weights of subgroups. Simulation and comparison experiments are conducted to demonstrate the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed method.