A New Method for Analysis of Complex Decision Making Problems Based on the Analytic Network Process and the Social Network Analysis

Prilikom odlučivanja potrebno je modelirati utjecaje (zavisnosti) medu elementima strukture problema odlučivanja kako bismo obuhvatili što više informacija o problemu odlučivanja i donijeli ispravnu odluku. Medu metodama za všekriterijsko odlučivanje tek pokoja prilikom izračuna težina kriterija u obzir uzima utjecaje. Te metode su vrlo kompleksne pa se u praksi rijetko koriste, a najpoznatija medu njima jest ANP. U istraživanju ovog doktorskog rada razvijena je nova metoda za višekriterijsko odlučivanje i analizu složenih problema odlučivanja koja je temeljena na analitičkom mrežnom procesu (ANP) i analizi društvenih mreža (PageRank centralitetu). Metoda se zove SNAP (engl. social network analytic process). Prilikom izrade nove metode korišten je pristup znanosti o dizajniranju. Osim na teorijskoj razini i na studijama slučajeva, nova metoda je provjerena softverskom simulacijom, usporedujući rezultate primjene metode s rezultatima primjene referentne metode, metoda ANP. Nova metoda ima nižu korisničku složenost od metode ANP što je čini jednostavnijom za primjenu. Prilikom izračuna težina kriterija, nova metoda u obzir uzima važnost kriterija za cilj odlučivanja kao i utjecaje medu kriterijima. Nova metoda ne relativizira problem odlučivanja po elementima (stupcima matrice utjecaja) kao metoda ANP. Može se primijeniti i u situacijama kada alternative nisu poznate (što je bila poteškoća u metodi ANP). Sukladno zadnjoj fazi korištenog istraživačkog pristupa, nova metoda je diseminirana kroz znanstvene radove u časopisima i na konferencijama.When making decisions, it is necessary to model influences (dependencies) between decision-making elements to cover as much information about the decision-making problem as possible and make the right decision. Among multi-criteria decision-making methods, only a few of them take into account the influences between the elements when determining the criteria weights. Those methods are very complex and are rarely used in practice. Among them, the most well-known method is the Analytic Network Process (ANP). A new method for multi-criteria decision-making and analysis of complex decision-making has been developed in the research of this PhD thesis. It is based on the ANP and the Social Network Analysis (SNA) (PageRank centrality). The method is called SNAP (Social Network Analytic Process). When designing a new method, the design science research process was used. In addition to theoretical analysis and case studies, the new method was evaluated by software simulation, comparing the results of the method with the results of the reference method, ANP. The new method has a lower user complexity than the ANP which makes it simpler to apply. When calculating the weights of the criteria, the new method takes into account the importance of criteria for decision-making goal as well as the influences between the criteria. The new method does not relativise the decision-making problem by elements (columns of impact matrix) as an ANP. It can also be applied in situations where alternatives are not known (which was a problem in the ANP). According to the last phase of the research approach, the new method was disseminated through scientific papers in journals and conferences