Social network group decision-making model considering interactions between trust relationships and opinion evolution
Abstract
Purpose
Social network group decision-making (SNGDM) has rapidly developed because of the impact of social relationships on decision-making behavior. However, not only do social relationships affect decision-making behavior, but decision-making behavior also affects social relationships. Such complicated interactions are rarely considered in current research. To bridge this gap, this study proposes an SNGDM model that considers the interaction between social trust relationships and opinion evolution.
Design/methodology/approach
First, the trust propagation and aggregation operators are improved to obtain a complete social trust relationship among decision-makers (DMs). Second, the evolution of preference information under the influence of trust relationships is measured, and the development of trust relationships during consensus interactions is predicted. Finally, the iteration of consensus interactions is simulated using an opinion dynamics model. A case study is used to verify the feasibility of the proposed model.
Findings
The proposed model can predict consensus achievement based on a group’s initial trust relationship and preference information and effectively captures the dynamic characteristics of opinion evolution in social networks.
Originality/value
This study proposes an SNGDM model that considers the interaction of trust and opinion. The proposed model improves trust propagation and aggregation operators, determines improved preference information based on the existing trust relationships and predicts the evolution of trust relationships in the consensus process. The dynamic interaction between the two accelerates DMs to reach a consensus.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (72201126, 71971115), in part by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province under Grant BK20210293, in part by the Humanities and Social Science Fund of Ministry of Education of China under Grant 22YJC630162, and in part by the Key Laboratory of Intelligent Decision and Digital Operations, Ministry of Industrial and Information Technology under Grant NJ2023027.
Citation
Ma, J. and Wu, T. (2024), "Social network group decision-making model considering interactions between trust relationships and opinion evolution", Kybernetes, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/K-05-2023-0930
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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