Fuzzy Consensus Model for Governance in Smart Service Systems

Abstract

Service Systems are means of value-co-creation and are considered “Smart” if they are supported by IT and react to external changes for the satisfaction of the whole. The co-production of value occurs by processes coordinating the participants, which exchange services, and including decision-making activities, such as the choice of a specific Service Provider. Making decisions is a matter of Governance that often conciliate the expectations of everyone. For the selection of Service Providers among a set of suitable ones, it is possible to consider a Fuzzy Consensus Model for a Group Decision Making (GDM) situation within a service scenario. We have a set of Service Providers (possible alternatives), and decision makers, who examine the choices to reach a common decision. The model considers fuzzy preference relations and an advice generation mechanism to support the decision makers. A case study, where heterogeneous experts have to evaluate a research project, is considered. The results indicate that the “most important” expert influence deeply the final decisions.