A best-worst method-based FlowSort approach for multi-criteria sorting problems

Abstract

Best-Worst Method (BWM) is a behaviorally-inspired decision-making method supporting decision-makers to evaluate and prioritize alternatives based on a set of criteria. This study introduces a novel version of BWM, incorporating concepts from the FlowSort method, which is designed to classify alternatives. Given a set of alternatives characterized with a number of criteria, first, a set of limiting profiles, as multi-criteria vectors, is defined by the decision-maker. Using these limiting profiles, pairwise comparisons are conducted between the two reference limiting profiles (best and worst), and the other limiting profiles. These pairwise comparisons form the basis to derive the priorities of the limiting profiles, which are the foundation of establishing criterion-specific value functions. Then, the criterion-wise value scores of alternatives are derived from the value functions. Subsequently, the outranking degrees between alternatives and reference limiting profiles are calculated based on a V-shape function. Following this, a min–max optimization model is established to infer classification indices. Finally, by exploring the relationships between classification indices of limiting profiles and alternatives, several assignment rules are developed to classify alternatives into different classes. The proposed method is applied to a supplier classification problem, and its performance is compared with several existing multi-criteria sorting methods. Its practical applicability is further demonstrated through a real-world case study on university assessment.