{"title":"Evolutive multi-attribute decision making with online consumer reviews","authors":"Xiaodan Liu , Peijia Ren , Zeshui Xu , Wanyi Xie","doi":"10.1016/j.omega.2024.103225","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.omega.2024.103225","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In the digital age, the sheer volume of online consumer reviews imposes a cognitive burden on consumers, complicating their purchasing decisions. Many studies have integrated consumer opinions to provide consumers with clear and concise information. However, these studies often prioritize mainstream opinions, overlooking the diversity and timeliness of other important perspectives. To address this challenge, we propose an evolutive decision-making method. Firstly, we propose an attribute rating evolution algorithm to address the online reviews based on the iterative self-organizing data analysis technique and time decay. This algorithm enables real-time analysis of the diverse opinions expressed in review data. Then, taking into account consumer attribute preferences and decision-making psychology, we formulate multiple product ranking strategies to offer personalized decisions based on the evolutive opinions. Our method decreases the bias towards review quantity, ensuring that significant opinions are not overshadowed by more frequent ones. Through data experiments and an application on OpenTable.com, we demonstrate that our method can provides effective decision recommendation for consumers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19529,"journal":{"name":"Omega-international Journal of Management Science","volume":"131 ","pages":"Article 103225"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142658620","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Assessment of digital economy development with the new multicriteria sorting method: DCMSort","authors":"Yingying Liang , Jindong Qin , Alessio Ishizaka","doi":"10.1016/j.omega.2024.103224","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.omega.2024.103224","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We present a novel multiple criteria sorting method based on the deck of cards method, named DCMSort, which assigns alternatives to pre-defined and ordered classes. In contrast to prior multiple criteria sorting methods, DCMSort produces criteria weights and utility functions based on personalized preferences using comparisons between two consecutive levels. Meanwhile, it needs fewer comparisons with the aid of the ordinal relation. To improve the flexibility of preference representation, we adopt reference levels and representative profiles as auxiliary profiles to characterize the utility function finely. Additionally, this method permits both definite and uncertain number of blank cards between consecutive positions. To verify the practicality of DCMSort, we provide an illustrative case study in the domain of digital economy development assessment in China. Sensitivity and comparative analyses are conducted to demonstrate the stability and superiority of our proposal.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19529,"journal":{"name":"Omega-international Journal of Management Science","volume":"132 ","pages":"Article 103224"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142743679","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Managing supply disruptions for risk-averse buyers: Diversified sourcing vs. disruption prevention","authors":"Meng Wu, Jiawei Zhang, Xin Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.omega.2024.103217","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.omega.2024.103217","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Diversified sourcing has traditionally been a popular approach for managing supply risk compared to disruption prevention. However, the recent COVID-19 crisis has emphasized the critical importance and necessity of disruption prevention. Additionally, the economic fears and concerns arising from the crisis have led managers to adopt a more risk-averse stance, potentially leading to permanent changes in individuals’ risk preferences. Despite the growing importance of risk aversion, existing studies have primarily focused on examining the impact of risk aversion on a specific approach, disregarding its influence on the selection of different approaches. As companies recognized the importance of investing in reliability to prevent disruptions, this research aims to investigate how risk aversion affects the selection of approaches to mitigate supply disruptions. Within a framework where both diversified sourcing and disruption prevention offer equivalent payoffs for risk-neutral buyers, our study unveils that risk-averse buyers, particularly when the level of disruption risk is relatively low and their risk aversion is relatively high, prefer to “mitigate but retain the risk of disruption” through diversified sourcing or partial prevention. This stands in contrast to risk-neutral buyers who consistently make choices between completely avoiding risk or accepting all risk through sole sourcing or no/complete prevention. More interestingly, the adoption of diversified sourcing and partial prevention yields distinct payoffs for risk-averse buyers. Despite the widespread adoption and popularity of diversified sourcing, it may actually lead to less favorable results in certain situations. If prevention becomes insensitive to increased investment, diversified sourcing may become even less advantageous. In summary, our study underscores the crucial importance of carefully selecting a suitable risk management approach for buyers who are transitioning towards risk aversion due to the post-COVID effect.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19529,"journal":{"name":"Omega-international Journal of Management Science","volume":"131 ","pages":"Article 103217"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142572335","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yanru Sun, Hao Sun, Panfei Sun, Xuanzhu Jin, Yimei Yang
{"title":"Elevating the corporate social responsibility level: A media supervision mechanism based on the Stackelberg-Evolutionary game model","authors":"Yanru Sun, Hao Sun, Panfei Sun, Xuanzhu Jin, Yimei Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.omega.2024.103215","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.omega.2024.103215","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Environmental taxes alone may not solve the social dilemma posed by the conflict between the myopic pursuit of profit and the cost of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Designing a reasonable supervision mechanism is crucial to correcting market failures. We develop a media supervision mechanism through a Stackelberg-Evolutionary game model to study the impact of media supervision on the evolutionary behavior of the manufacturer population. Assuming the media is leader, manufacturers’ demands are heterogeneous under different strategy profiles after the media determines the effort level of supervision. The best response of the manufacturer population is the evolutionarily stable strategy under supervision, where the percentage of CSR strategies is defined as CSR level. It is proved that the CSR level elevates with the increase of effort level. We analyze the existence and uniqueness of Stackelberg-Evolutionary equilibrium and a numerical algorithm to compute it. The results show that CSR level under Stackelberg-Evolutionary equilibrium is higher than that without supervision. Our research not only illustrates the effectiveness of media supervision in reducing environmental pollution but also provides suggestions for governments to formulate environmental policies and improve regulatory mechanisms.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19529,"journal":{"name":"Omega-international Journal of Management Science","volume":"131 ","pages":"Article 103215"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142578432","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Integrating machine learning models to learn potentially non-monotonic preferences for multi-criteria sorting from large-scale assignment examples","authors":"Zhuolin Li , Zhen Zhang , Witold Pedrycz","doi":"10.1016/j.omega.2024.103219","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.omega.2024.103219","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Learning preferences from assignment examples has attracted considerable attention in the field of multi-criteria sorting (MCS). However, traditional MCS methods, designed to infer decision makers’ preferences from small-scale assignment examples, encounter limitations when confronted with large-scale data sets. Additionally, the presence of decision makers’ non-monotonic preferences for certain criteria in MCS problems necessitates accounting for potential non-monotonicity when devising preference learning methods. To address this, this paper proposes some new models to learn potentially non-monotonic preferences for MCS problems from large-scale assignment examples by leveraging machine learning models. Specifically, we first introduce the <strong>P</strong>iecewise-<strong>L</strong>inear <strong>N</strong>eural <strong>N</strong>etwork (PLNN) model, which leverages the threshold-based value-driven sorting procedure as the underlying sorting model and integrates a perceptron-based model to establish piecewise-linear marginal value functions to approximate real ones. On this basis, we address MCS problems with criteria interactions and extend the PLNN model to develop the <strong>P</strong>iecewise-<strong>L</strong>inear <strong>F</strong>actorization <strong>M</strong>achine-based <strong>N</strong>eural <strong>N</strong>etwork (PLFMNN) model by incorporating the factorization machine to factorize interaction coefficients. Training these models allows us to learn potentially non-monotonic preferences of decision makers. To illustrate the proposed models, we apply them to a red wine quality classification problem. Furthermore, we assess the performance of the proposed models through computational experiments on both artificial and real-world data sets. Additionally, we conduct statistical tests to ascertain the significance of the performance differences. Experimental results reveal that the proposed models are comparable to the multilayer perceptron model and outperform other baseline models on most data sets, thus affirming their efficacy. Finally, we conduct some sensitivity analysis to assess the impact of certain parameters on the performance of the proposed models and compare them with existing studies from a theoretical perspective, further demonstrating their effectiveness.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19529,"journal":{"name":"Omega-international Journal of Management Science","volume":"131 ","pages":"Article 103219"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142552348","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Dynamic allocation of display advertising impressions in dual sales channels","authors":"Yuxuan Zhao, Xiangyong Li, Lan Luo","doi":"10.1016/j.omega.2024.103213","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.omega.2024.103213","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We study a multi-period ad allocation problem faced by an online publisher who sells ad impressions on websites through two sales channels. In the guaranteed sales channel, advertisers submit heterogeneous offers for contracts under which the publisher guarantees delivery of a certain number of ad impressions over a certain period; in the real-time bidding (RTB) sales channel, the publisher runs an RTB auction to sell ad impressions. In each period, the publisher decides whether to accept or reject contract proposals; how to allocate ad impressions across existing contracts; and how many impressions to sell via RTB. The publisher faces uncertain demand from advertisers and an uncertain supply of impressions, which are generated by viewers visiting the publisher’s websites. We formulate the problem as a finite-horizon stochastic dynamic program, which poses significant methodological challenges. We first present structural properties of optimal policies under certain cases. To avoid the curse of dimensionality in dynamic programming, we develop an approach involving Lagrangian relaxations. We decompose the problem into a series of solvable subproblems and derive optimal policies. We further develop Lagrangian policies with performance guarantees. We show that when Lagrange multipliers depend on more signal history, the linear term’s weight of the number of contract types in the performance upper bound decreases. Furthermore, if the Lagrange multipliers depend on the full signal history, the corresponding Lagrangian policies will be asymptotically optimal to the number of contract types. We also explore a more suitable case for large-scale real-time ad allocation and create Lagrangian policies that yield comparable performance guarantees. Finally, we extend our main results to four new scenarios.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19529,"journal":{"name":"Omega-international Journal of Management Science","volume":"131 ","pages":"Article 103213"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142539543","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Effect of counterfeits and fake reviews in markets for credence goods","authors":"Yongqin Lei , Fredrik Ødegaard , Hubert Pun","doi":"10.1016/j.omega.2024.103218","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.omega.2024.103218","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Counterfeits are a persistent problem in online marketplaces, in particular regarding credence goods (e.g., nutritional supplements), as their qualities are difficult or impossible to evaluate even after consumption. Concerned about product quality, customers frequently rely on external signals, such as product badges based on ratings. However, even product ratings are not foolproof as unethical sellers may acquire fake positive reviews to exploit product ratings and badge systems. To analyze the impact fake reviews have on credence goods, we consider a two-stage competition between an authentic seller and a deceptive counterfeiter. The market consists of two types of consumers: savvy customers, who understand that endorsement badges are product-dependent and not seller-dependent, and novice customers, who mistakenly believe product badges testify to a seller's authenticity. In the first stage, both sellers simultaneously decide on whether to acquire fake reviews, which partially influences if the product receives an endorsement badge. In the second stage, both sellers simultaneously set their prices and customers make purchasing decisions. Our results indicate that, in equilibrium, the authentic seller does not acquire fake reviews, while the counterfeiter may do so to mislead customers. Moreover, the amount of fake reviews is decreasing in the fraction of savvy consumers, suggesting that online platforms can combat fake reviews by, for instance, clearly highlighting that badges are product-dependent. We also find that having the option to acquire fake reviews may benefit both sellers but always hurts consumers, emphasizing the need for regulation to protect consumers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19529,"journal":{"name":"Omega-international Journal of Management Science","volume":"131 ","pages":"Article 103218"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142658622","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xiaofeng Xu , Yangyang He , Min Liu , Peng Qi , Lean Yu
{"title":"Multi-stage resource leveling problem with self-operation and outsourcing cooperation in sharing logistics","authors":"Xiaofeng Xu , Yangyang He , Min Liu , Peng Qi , Lean Yu","doi":"10.1016/j.omega.2024.103221","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.omega.2024.103221","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Self-operation and outsourcing cooperation have emerged as the prevailing operating mode for logistics companies in the realm of sharing logistics. This mode facilitates the rational and effective coordination of multiple resources for task assignment. However, the competition and cooperation relationship between self-operation and outsourcing remain largely unexplored, leaving logistics companies grappling with the trade-off between cost-effectiveness and risk. To address this gap, we propose a multi-stage resource leveling model that accounts for the fuzzy outsourcing resources, the efficacy of intra-stage resources, and the stability of inter-stage resources. We employ an improved gravitational search algorithm to solve this model efficiently. Inspired by Markowitz's portfolio theory, we propose a resource portfolio strategy under the self-operation and outsourcing cooperation mode based on the mean-variance model to better weigh up the “cost-effectiveness” and “risk” exhibited by logistics resources. The strategy uses expected returns and variance to evaluate the benefits and risks, thereby categorizing allocation schemes according to risk levels. Finally, through experiment analysis, we discuss the optimal scale of self-operation and outsourcing resources for logistics subtasks at different risk levels. This analysis equips logistics companies with the insights needed to make informed decisions aligned with their risk preferences and overall benefits, offering crucial managerial implications for business and strategic decisions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19529,"journal":{"name":"Omega-international Journal of Management Science","volume":"131 ","pages":"Article 103221"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142587382","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Decomposition of quality changes: Focusing on subjective quality of life","authors":"Zhui-Liang Huang , Shiuh-Nan Hwang","doi":"10.1016/j.omega.2024.103216","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.omega.2024.103216","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Data envelopment analysis is a data-driven tool for building a composite index. Fare et al. (1995) proposed an attribute-incorporated data envelopment analysis where a Malmquist productivity index including attributes was formulated. The attribute-incorporated Malmquist productivity index was decomposed into quality change, efficiency change, and technical change. However, this attribute-incorporated Malmquist productivity index may yield incorrect results due to the fact that its separable multiplier only considers the reference technology and ignores the corresponding period data. This current paper proposes a revised decomposition version of the attribute-incorporated Malmquist productivity index. In addition, we propose an aggregate quality change model which is extended from Färe et al. (1995), where subjective quality and objective quality are considered at the same time. The aggregate quality change model is useful for measuring changes in the quality of life. An application in this paper shows that, within quality attributes, subjective quality of life has a more significant impact on the overall urban quality of life than objective quality of life.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19529,"journal":{"name":"Omega-international Journal of Management Science","volume":"131 ","pages":"Article 103216"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142706661","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}