Minimum-Cost Consensus Models Under Aggregation Operators

Analytical results indicate that the proposed framework reduces to the consensus model of Ben-Arieh when the selected aggregation operator is the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operator with weight vector.

Abstract

In group decision making, consensus models are decision aid tools and help experts modify their individual opinions to reach a closer agreement. Based on the concept of minimum-cost consensus, this paper proposes a novel framework to achieve minimum-cost consensus under aggregation operators. Analytical results indicate that the proposed framework reduces to the consensus model of Ben-Arieh when the selected aggregation operator is the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operator with weight vector $(1/2, \ldots, 0, \ldots, 1/2)^{T}$ . Furthermore, this paper closely examines the minimum-cost consensus models with a linear cost function under the common aggregation operators (e.g., the weighted averaging operator and the OWA operator). Linear-programming-based approaches are also developed to solve these models. The results of this paper significantly contribute to efforts to develop the consensus model of Ben-Arieh