A Minimum Cost Consensus Model With Linguistic Information in an Asymmetric Costs Context to Prevent Manipulative Behavior for Emergency Decision Making

Compared with general group decision making, it is more difficult to reach consensus on emergency decision making (EDM) due to its complexity and urgency. Experts from a variety of backgrounds and levels of knowledge can collaborate to solve a particular problem, and for this reason, linguistic terms are often utilized to express experts' opinions because of their flexibility and ease of use. However, linguistic expressions are emotional and, therefore, more difficult to reach a consensus. Taking into account the inherent emotional characteristics of linguistic expression, a three-way semantic scales model with emotional preference is proposed. Existing minimum cost consensus (MCC) models are not suitable for this situation because the cost of adjustment in various semantic categories is different and asymmetric. Therefore, in the context of EDM, a minimum cost consensus model (MCCM) with linguistic information is proposed, considering three-way semantic scales and asymmetric adjustment costs. First, a novel MCCM with semantic category constraints (MCCM-SCC) is proposed, which considers the asymmetric adjustment cost. Then, taking into account the degree of tolerance of experts in semantic difference, an extended MCCM-SCC with semantic difference is developed, and related theorems are proved. In addition, a comprehensive feedback mechanism is developed considering the regret aversion of decision makers to prevent the manipulative behavior of experts. Finally, a case study is used to further elaborate on the methods and models mentioned above and highlight their rationality and effectiveness through comparative analysis.