Inconsistency of the judgment matrix in the AHP method and the decision maker's knowledge

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method to quantitatively assess a decision maker's knowledge in AHP when the judgment matrix is inconsistent, linking it to financial transaction costs and using thermodynamics models.

Contribution

It proposes a novel approach combining the Ising model and thermodynamics to evaluate decision maker's expertise based on matrix inconsistency.

Findings

Deviation matrix relates to financial transaction costs

Thermodynamics tools effectively quantify decision maker's knowledge

Method provides a new perspective on inconsistency in AHP

Abstract

In this paper we propose a method for a quantitative estimation of the decision maker's knowledge in the context of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in cases, where the judgment matrix is inconsistent. We show that the matrix of deviation from the transitivity condition corresponds to the rate matrix for transaction costs in the financial market. For the quantitative estimation of the decision maker's professionalism, we apply the Ising model and thermodynamics tools.