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Expert-elicited weights in multi-criteria decision analysis: theory and practice

Shu ya Chang

International Journal of Economics and Business Research2026https://doi.org/10.1504/ijebr.2026.152458article
ABDC C
Weight
0.50

What the paper says

The expert weighting method has been applied in decision-making for years but lacks a firm theoretical basis.This study introduces a mathematical framework to address this gap.Due to the additive-only nature of the five-point Likert scale, a 100-point system was adopted.Experts rated each variable based on a baseline of 1, and matrix multiplication was used to generate proportional importance values, overcoming the limits of ordinal comparisons.Mathematical induction shows that, with equal initial scores, variables with higher variance receive lower importance.This supports the logic of the weighting process and improves the scale's sensitivity in distinguishing variable significance.By analysing internal variance, the method allows for clearer importance ranking and enhances evaluation precision.While the Likert scale is common, its statistical limits reduce reliability.Incorporating the expert weighting method addresses these flaws and improves evaluation tools.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1504/ijebr.2026.152458

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@article{shu2026,
  title        = {{Expert-elicited weights in multi-criteria decision analysis: theory and practice}},
  author       = {Shu ya Chang},
  journal      = {International Journal of Economics and Business Research},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1504/ijebr.2026.152458},
}

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Expert-elicited weights in multi-criteria decision analysis: theory and practice

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.