Search

The growth of technology and easy access to the internet have led to an unparalleled boom in online booking. The uncertainty surrounding online travel purchases, however, still makes traveller's decision-making process very stressful. Hence, this study aims to identify and classify different factors that drive travellers' decision-making and actual behaviour. This study seeks to fill the void by systematically reviewing and synthesizing the online travel literature. The study utilizes the fuzzy-DEMATEL approach to identify, classify and analyse various factors to provide a comprehensive framework for understanding sets of factors driving travellers' decisions and their actual behaviour. The findings reveal that travellers' online travel purchasing behaviour is influenced most by their attitude, while social influence also emerged as a significant factor. This study provides key insights for academics, researchers and practitioners by identifying major factors and sub-factors, along with their causal interactions. This study is novel in its approach as it significantly contributes to existing knowledge by synthesizing the literature and employing the fuzzy-DEMATEL technique in categorizing the key factors that influence travellers' decision-making and actual purchase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expansion of the high speed railway (HSR) network has made vital contributions in improving intercity travel around the globe. Despite being promoted by governments across the globe, multiplicity of barriers has prevented the penetration of HSR services in developing economies apart from China. Many studies have emphasized on the advantages of HSR services but have failed to highlight the challenges in developing an efficient HSR network. This study aims to identify and develop interrelationships between the major inhibitors in the growth of HSR in a developing economy such as India considering the perspective of multiple stakeholders. The stakeholders considered for the present study are academic researchers, Indian railway officials and ancillary companies involved in the construction of HSR. Thirteen major inhibitors are identified after consulting all the stakeholders and a blended methodology consisting of Fuzzy theory as well as decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory method (Fuzzy-DEMATEL) is used to develop the inter-relationships. All stakeholders highlighted some common inhibitors such as financial viability of the HSR project, financial health of Indian Railways and the existing infrastructure as the major challenges in growth of HSR in India. Furthermore, strategies have been identified to mitigate these inhibitors to help the policy makers. Strategies have been proposed and a relationship (inhibitor-strategy) matrix has been developed to understand the acceptability of these strategies. The major contribution of the present study is that no study has considered different stakeholder's perspectives in identifying the inhibitors. Furthermore, the policy makers can directly use the findings of this study for HSR growth in developing economies. • Inhibitors to the growth of high-speed railway (HSR) network using multi stakeholders' perspective are identified. • A Fuzzy- DEMATEL method is proposed to reveal the causal interactive mechanisms among barriers. • A relationship mapping between the inhibitors and the strategies are developed. • Financial viability of the HSR project and the existing infrastructure should be prioritized. • The findings could help policy making by providing a priority ranking and of effective strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India are suffering from the long-standing challenges related to asymmetric information, high transaction costs, SMEs' opacity and limited access to credit. Blockchain technology, which is still in its infancy in terms of adoption in India, can facilitate SMEs to counter these challenges. Fuelled by this motivation, the study aims to investigate the significant barriers to blockchain adoption in supply chain finance practices by Indian SMEs. Using fuzzy-analytic hierarchy process, sensitivity analysis, and fuzzy-decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory this paper identifies the blockchain barriers, prioritises them and examine their cause and effect relationships. The results of the study indicate that technology barriers are the most influential barriers that impede blockchain adoption. The findings will help the policymakers and practitioners to take suitable measures to overcome these barriers and fuel the adoption of blockchain in Indian SMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After recent major crises (fire, earthquake, epidemic, etc.), the importance of humanitarian aid logistics has been better understood. The success of the humanitarian aid logistics (HAL) depends on meeting the urgent needs of the victims in the shortest time and with the least amount of resources. Identifiying the factors that affecting HAL and understanding their impact is essential to the success of the process. The study aims to determine the critical success factors that affect the performance of the humanitarian aid logistics, which represents a large part of the cost of aid operations in rescue interventions and distribution of aid materials to minimize losses in disasters in Türkiye. In the methodological part, fuzzy DEMATEL was used, which explains the cause-effect relationships by determining the factors that influence each other and the degree to which they are influenced by each other. As a result of the study, it was concluded that 8 of the 16 critical success factors created with the help of the literature were included in the cause group and significantly impacted the success of the humanitarian aid logistics system in disaster management. Among these factors, it was concluded that coordination and cooperation, organizational structure and distribution of responsibilities, and clarity in reporting and sending information were highly correlated with the highest overall impact and other factors. The results obtained can be helpful for the government, charities, and related NGOs in formulating policies and strategies in logistics management.

The transition to a circular supply chain (CSC) is a prerequisite to establish sustainability in the supply chain. Blockchain‐based CSC enables stakeholders to effectively manage their decision‐making processes, increase revenue, reduce time and costs and ensure information synchronisation. Blockchain start‐ups play an essential role in facilitating the transition from a linear to a circular economy while supporting the development of CSCs. This research aims to explore the role of blockchain entrepreneurship in the transition to CSC by evaluating circular blockchain start‐ups. This research contributes to the literature by providing verified roles of blockchain entrepreneurship in the transition to CSC by evaluating the literature and blockchain start‐ups. Another contribution is that the causal relationships between these roles are analysed. In this study, an integrated three‐step methodology including Systematic Literature Review (SLR), Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), and Fuzzy Decision‐Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (Fuzzy‐DEMATEL) methods on the base of the theory of change is proposed. An SLR is performed to determine the roles of blockchain entrepreneurship. Then, a QCA is conducted after identifying the roles for verification by evaluations of use cases of blockchain start‐ups. Finally, the causal relationships between these roles are interpreted by using Fuzzy‐DEMATEL. Findings indicate that blockchain entrepreneurship has 12 fundamental roles in facilitating the transition from a linear to a circular economy while supporting the development of CSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Natural Hazards & Environment (JNHE) / Doğal Afetler ve Çevre Dergisi (DACD) is the property of Artvin Coruh University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Engineering Management / Gongcheng Guanli Xuebao is the property of Journal of Engineering Management Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The majority of the food grain supply chain (FGSC) is run in a linear fashion, requiring substantial inputs that produce mostly inedible by-products, environmental damage and wastage. Moreover, population increase, declining food resources, shifting weather patterns, and dwindling supplies pose serious problems to the FGSC. Effective usage and consumption of resources to harmonize ecological, economic, and social elements is the need of the hour from the Agri 5.0 and circular economy (CE) perspective. Fortunately, modern technological developments like artificial intelligence (AI) might represent a paradigm change in this context. However, enablers for AI adoption haven't been studied sufficiently despite AI's popularity. Hence, the fundamental objective of this research is to identify and examine key enablers that facilitate rapid AI adoption in FGSC, empowering Agri 5.0 and CE in India. The primary facilitators for AI adoption have been explored via a literature review and expert interviews followed by a questionnaire survey. The fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (F-DEMATEL) approach was then used to create a causal model of the identified enablers. The F-DEMATEL method helps resolve the uncertainty of researching enabler interactions. Research findings suggest that "Legal and regulatory interventions from the government (E7)" and "Green IoT-driven total automation (E5)" have a significant influence in integrating AI in FGSC. The results have major ramifications for policymakers. The results may be used to justify future investments and will also aid decision-makers in India in advancing AI initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain technology, marked as a disruptive force across various sectors, including seaport logistics, faces challenges and obstacles that impede its effective adoption. We aim to empirically identify the significant barriers impeding blockchain adoption in the seaport industry and elucidate the interconnected relationships between these impediments. Utilizing the Fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory Analysis (Fuzzy DEMATEL) technique, we quantify the cause-and-effect relationships between various barriers to blockchain adoption. Structured interviews involving 18 experts were conducted, collecting both qualitative interview data and quantitative data. The nature of ports and the maritime industry did not seem to be accurately reflected in the literature about blockchain adoption, presenting several new findings in this study. Four primary obstacles were identified: 1) Lack of management support and commitment. 2) Issues in supply chain collaboration, communication and coordination. 3) Resistance from and lack of involvement of external stakeholders. 4) The high cost. Furthermore, cost was reaffirmed as a significant factor influencing blockchain adoption. We enhance existing literature by revealing the interdependencies among identified barriers and offers insights for policymakers and industry practitioners. We aim to foster successful blockchain integration in the seaport industry, improving its sustainability performance. During this research, it has been acknowledged by the business sector that the effective employment of business process re-engineering (BPR) and the strategic implementation of blockchain technology are crucial strategies to surmount the obstacles that have impeded the extensive integration of blockchain within port operations.

Based on the livestreaming of the e-commerce platform Taobao, this paper studied the consumers’ online live streaming purchase decision behavior, taking causal snacks purchase as an example. In the paper, the principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to reduce dimension of the evaluation indicators of consumers purchase decision, and an evaluation index system for consumers’ purchase of casual snacks under livestreaming was established, which consists of 5 first-level indicators and 20 sub-level indicators. In view of the uncertainty of expert evaluation, Using Fuzzy-DEMATEL analysis the evaluation index’s logical relationships and influence relationships, and an Analytic Network Process (ANP) network based on the importance and relevance of consumer purchase influence was constructed. The weighted method of Fuzzy-DEMATEL and ANP combination is used to improve the objectivity of indexing importance. The experimental results showed that the amount of transaction guided by anchors, popularity of anchors, teamwork ability of livestreaming, brand awareness of snack and selection ability of livestreaming team were the key factors for consumers’ purchasing decisions of snack under livestreaming. This research could help livestreaming e-commerce platforms, businesses and livestreaming marketing teams understand the consumers behavior better, thus improve the purchase intention of consumers from the key factors affecting their decision-making, increase the sales volume and the amount of attention of the products, and increase the volume of guided transactions and the number of fans for the livestreaming marketing teams.

Green mining construction (GMC) is a sustainable mining development model with the potential of realizing synergistic development of resources, environment, society, and economy. At present, the green mining strategy has yielded some successes, but there is still a significant gap between theoretical research and practical promotion, owing to the complexity of the green mining system and the diversity of influencing factors. Therefore, in the context of current pressure to normalize environmental protection, how to promote the construction of green mines while taking into account the premise of economic development has become an important issue. Inspired by the form of Drive-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) model, this paper constructs a DPSIR model of the driving mechanism of green mining construction. Using the fuzzy-DEMATEL method, each critical factor and influencing mechanism of GMC is explored, and the network relationship of the critical factors is established. The results show that many factors affect GMC from the perspective of the ecological environment, and 11 critical factors are obtained in varying degrees. Among them, green technology and supervision and long-term mechanism are the most important and influencing factors. Based on the transmission mechanism among these factors, improvement suggestions, and specific strategies are put forward. This research effectively identifies and analyzes the critical factors of GMC from the perspective of driving and response mechanisms, which is helpful to support the construction of ecological civilization and the sustainable development of mining industry.

Characterizing and identification of flood‐susceptible areas can be a solution to mitigate the damages and fatality rate. This study proposes a novel hybrid MCDM framework to assess flood susceptibility in large ungauged watersheds dealing with data scarcity issues. The proposed method examines the interdependencies and causal relationships between various criteria affecting the flooding procedure using the DEcision‐MAking Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL). Moreover, since experts' opinions contain uncertainty, the fuzzy logic is integrated with DEMATEL to overcome this shortcoming. Then, the local weights of criteria were estimated using the Best–Worst Method (BWM) to enhance the pairwise comparisons process. Final criteria weights were obtained using Fuzzy DEMATEL and BWM results in Analytical Network Process (ANP) super‐matrix. Finally, the criteria were distributed spatially using the Complex Proportional Assessment of Alternatives (COPRAS) method based on obtained weights. The proposed method was compared with different approaches such as Fuzzy‐DEMATEL ANP, BWM, and AHP using several statistical measures. We concluded that the novel hybrid proposed method outperformed other approaches based on our results. Moreover, by overlaying classified maps with the historical flood events locations, it was concluded that 85.96% of flooded areas were classified as "high" and "very high." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the drastic changing process of the construction industry in China, construction program management has been given significant attention. Due to the complexity of construction programs, selecting competent managers is crucially important to its success. Therefore, based on a comprehensive literature review, this paper combines regret theory and the Fuzzy-DEMATEL method to develop a multi-attribute model for construction program manager selection. Firstly, six competence elements are extracted, then the manager selection and evaluation index system are constructed. Secondly, the regret theory is used to simulate the psychological characteristics of the decision makers, combined with Fuzzy-DEMATEL, the comprehensive weights for each element are calculated. Lastly, all alternatives for the selection are sorted and the competent ones are selected. A case study is provided to exam the effectiveness of the developed model. Results shows that the proposed model adopted multi-attribute evaluation and group decision making and took into account the psychological behavior of decision makers as well as influences from the relationships between different attributes. Such results indicate that the proposed model is able to provide more comprehensive and scientific construction program manager selections, which can further improve the management of construction programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Characterizing and identification of flood‐susceptible areas can be a solution to mitigate the damages and fatality rate. This study proposes a novel hybrid MCDM framework to assess flood susceptibility in large ungauged watersheds dealing with data scarcity issues. The proposed method examines the interdependencies and causal relationships between various criteria affecting the flooding procedure using the DEcision‐MAking Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL). Moreover, since experts' opinions contain uncertainty, the fuzzy logic is integrated with DEMATEL to overcome this shortcoming. Then, the local weights of criteria were estimated using the Best–Worst Method (BWM) to enhance the pairwise comparisons process. Final criteria weights were obtained using Fuzzy DEMATEL and BWM results in Analytical Network Process (ANP) super‐matrix. Finally, the criteria were distributed spatially using the Complex Proportional Assessment of Alternatives (COPRAS) method based on obtained weights. The proposed method was compared with different approaches such as Fuzzy‐DEMATEL ANP, BWM, and AHP using several statistical measures. We concluded that the novel hybrid proposed method outperformed other approaches based on our results. Moreover, by overlaying classified maps with the historical flood events locations, it was concluded that 85.96% of flooded areas were classified as “high” and “very high.”

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) plays a critical role in driving economic growth and development, particularly in countries like Vietnam. This study proposes a hybrid model that integrates Fuzzy-Delphi, Fuzzy-DEMATEL, and DANP methods to identify and prioritize the main factors affecting FDI attraction and open innovation in Vietnam. The proposed approach offers a more comprehensive analysis that accounts for the inherent complexities and uncertainties of the FDI decision-making process and its impact on open innovation. By exploring the network and interrelationships between the factors, the study provides a more nuanced understanding of the determinants of FDI attraction, open innovation, and their impact on other factors. The study's results are expected to reveal the critical factors affecting FDI attraction and open innovation in Vietnam and their relative importance, serving as a basis for policymakers to design effective strategies for attracting FDI and promoting open innovation. This can be particularly crucial for developing countries seeking to leverage FDI to drive economic growth and innovation. Additionally, the proposed methodology has the potential to contribute significantly to the literature on FDI attraction and open innovation and provide a valuable framework for future research.

In recent years, the energy crisis has gotten worse as a result of global challenges like the pandemic and the Ukraine crisis. To solve this problem, researchers have focused on development of sustainable resources and renewable energy infrastructure for its potential as a promising and effective strategy. Hydrogen is a significant energy carrier that will fulfill global energy demand while also significantly reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the future decades. The catalysts used in hydrogen generation have a substantial effect on hydrogen efficiency, however unknown parameters affecting catalyst activity throughout the catalyst preparation process are a major source of concern. The most essential components are to accurate determination the development conditions of the catalysts used in the hydrogen generation. The main objective is to produce hydrogen energy with high efficiency thereby reducing the currently usage of fossil fuels, which are currently used in transportation, industry, home, and commercial applications. This study's aim is to examine critical catalyst preparation factors (cCPF) that have an effect on the efficiency of the catalyst using the fuzzy DEMATEL method. In this regard, twelve cCPF were identified based on literature review and in consultation with experts and the causal relationships among critical factors were visualized with the proposed method. The results highlighted that the most critical CPF that should be tackled to improve hydrogen generation efficiency are: appropriate reduction temperature (F), and the appropriate reduction agent concentration (G), drying conditions (L), drying time (M) and calibration of instruments and equipment (N). The findings of this study can be used to researchers and decision-makers for improving the overall performance of catalysts. • The critical catalyst preparation factors that influence hydrogen generation were determined using the fuzzy DEMATEL method. • Critical factors were identified and evaluated with a cause-effect relationship diagram. • Reduction temperature and reduction agent concentration is found as the most important factor affecting catalyst activity. • The study provides findings that will improve the catalysts preparation process and increase their activity and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has been promoting the renovation of old residential communities vigorously. Due to the financial pressure of the government and the sustainability of the renovation of old residential communities, public-private partnerships (PPP) have already gained attention. The selection of social capital is key to improving the efficiency of the PPP model in renovating old residential communities. In order to determine the influencing factors of social capital selection in the renovation of old residential communities, this paper aims to find an effective approach and analyze these factors. In this paper, a fuzzy decision-making and trial evaluation laboratory (fuzzy-DEMATEL) technique is extended and amore suitable systemis developed for the selection of social capital using the existing group decisionmaking theory. In the first stage, grounded theory is used to extract the unabridged key influencing factors for social capital selection in the renovation of old residential communities. Secondly, by considering the impact of expert weights, the key influencing factors are identified. The interactions within these influencing factors are discussed and the credibility of the results is verified by sensitivity analysis. Finally, these key influencing factors are sorted by importance. Based on the results, the government should focus on a technical level, organizationalmanagement abilities, corporate reputation, credit status, etc. This study provides the government with a theoretical basis and a methodology for evaluating social capital selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fourth industrial revolution, fueled by automation and digital technology advancements, enables us to manage manufacturing systems effectively. Its deployment in enterprises has now become increasingly important in developed and emerging economies. Many experts believe that barriers associated with Industry 4.0 implementation are critical to its success. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the major hurdles to Industry 4.0 adoption and reveal their interrelationships. Initially, the literature was thoroughly studied to determine the sixteen barriers impeding I4.0 adoption. Then, based on experts' opinions, an integrated fuzzy-DEMATEL approach was utilized to examine the most significant challenges to I4.0 deployment. The results demonstrated the distribution of barriers in which the economic dimension played a decisive role, affecting technological, regulatory, and organizational dimensions. As observed in the barrier mapping, the lack of qualified workforce was a typical adoption barrier. Finally, the mitigation strategies developed would help managers to overcome the identified critical obstacles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to solve the problem of low participation of social capital due to the unreasonable setting of the return on investment of PPP projects in the waste incineration power generation industry. Through literature, cases, and industry characteristics, expert survey method and Fuzzy-DEMATEL method are used to comprehensively identify and optimize the influencing factor system of the return on investment of PPP projects in the waste incineration power generation industry. ANP method is used to evaluate the influencing factors and calculate the factor weight. The results show that key influencing factors such as "project uniqueness" and "government subsidies" should be focused on and controlled. Suggestions such as establishing objective environmental constraints for project uniqueness should be put forward to improve the satisfaction of multiple value subjects and promote the realization of China's "dual carbon" goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart manufacturing is transforming the industry, and its adoption offers significant benefits to manufacturers, suppliers and customers, such as enhanced organisational performance, competitive advantage, mass customisation, improved sustainability and better collaboration. The objective of this research is to identify the implementation barriers of smart manufacturing and to explore the cause–effect relationship between them using a fuzzy-based Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) approach. Through expert opinions and literature review, 20 barriers to smart manufacturing adoption were identified. The results showed that 'lack of product digitisation', 'lack of ubiquitous design and manufacturing setup', 'resistance to change', 'lack of data synchronisation' and 'lack of high tech infrastructure support' were the significant barriers in the Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The paper intends to guide the managers, governmental organisations and smart manufacturing service providers to formulate effective smart factory adoption strategies in the manufacturing domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has caused enormous disruptions to supply chain (SCs). Border restrictions forced countless businesses to close either permanently or temporarily. However, the food industry is an essential sector that needs to be operational during a pandemic. Although the food industry has proactively worked towards fulfilling human needs, the food supply chain (FSC) faced numerous challenges, forcing SC managers to rethink their business strategy to cater to consumer demands effectively. In a pandemic situation, manufacturing operations need to repurpose and adapt to produce different high-demand products. Resilience initiatives help fight disruption phases in an uncertain environment by building capacity to resist and recover to a better position. This study identifies 14 key enablers to develop a resilient FSC and reveals the most significant enablers in India. We used a hybrid Delphi-interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and Fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (Fuzzy-DEMATEL) methodology to achieve these goals. The Delphi technique identified essential enablers, while the ISM analyzed the interrelationship among enablers and level of importance in a hierarchical structural model. Finally, the Fuzzy-DEMATEL categorized the enablers into the cause-effect group. This study helps SC decision-makers recognize the enablers and the contextual and causal relationships to improve resilience initiatives. It also helps them repurpose their manufacturing operations and shift to other highly required and high-demand production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present era of vulnerabilities, the concept of the resilient supply chain has appeared to be the most promising and efficient tool to adapt and recover from significant disruptions. Though enormous research is available regarding the capabilities and practices that enable the resilient supply chain's success, little consideration is given to the barriers that inhibit its successful implementation in the actual scenario. In this research, we have identified 14 critical barriers to resilient supply chain in the context of the Indian manufacturing supply chain. Further, we have used an integrated Fuzzy-DEMATEL approach to evaluate these barriers. The findings reveal that lack of managerial commitment is among the most influencing barriers to the resilient supply chain, followed by poor risk awareness and poor information sharing. This research enables the academicians to understand the resilient supply chain's various capabilities, practices and barriers and provides a novel approach for quantitative analysis of the subjective parameters. Moreover, the findings enable the supply chain practitioners to allocate the resources and capabilities that mitigate the barriers and make the supply chain genuinely resilient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the comprehensive evaluation and selection of e-commerce agent service provider, this paper discusses the construction of e-commerce agent service provider selection index system. Fuzzy-Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (Fuzzy-DEMATEL) is selected to analyze the logical relationship and influence relationship between the selection indexes of e-commerce representative operation service providers, and the importance and relevance Analytic Network Process (ANP) network was constructed. The combined weighting method of Fuzzy-Dematel and ANP is used to calculate the mixed weight, and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method was used to complete the comprehensive ranking and selection of alternatives. Finally, the empirical analysis of M company, a toy manufacturing enterprise in central China, choosing e-commerce agent operation service provider is carried out by using the established evaluation method, and the results show that the evaluation method is effective and feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With growing concern for society as a whole business organizations have been forced to think about their contribution towards society apart from their own profits. This concept has been conceptualized as Society 5.0 in the more recent times. The organizations need to have a more human-centered approach in order to establish themselves in the market today. This is an emerging topic and therefore limited research has been done in this area in the literature. The aim of the current research is to fill up this research gap. The study tries to highlight the impediments in implementation of society 5.0 in the emerging economies. The research has been carried in two steps. In the first step the themes have been generated through NVIVO software. Subsequently the themes generated are taken as the factors to be prioritized in the cause-and-effect groups through a multi-criteria decision-making approach, namely Fuzzy-DEMATEL. The case study being considered for the Indian situation solicited experts for their involvement in developing the themes and also used their evaluation as input to categorise the components into cause - effect categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is an inclusive approach based on the concept of waste and variation reduction to achieve quality and sustainability. The successful adoption of any approach depends upon the awareness and readiness measures of a particular one. This paper contributes toward Micro-Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to adopt a comprehensive LSS approach in their existing system through the identification, analysis, and prioritization of LSS enablers and barriers. In the present study, 25 enablers and 21 barriers of LSS adoption are identified through literature review and are validated by using questionnaire-based survey. The screened enablers and barriers are further formulated into logical groups using factor analysis. These formulated groups are prioritized through Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and compared the obtained results with the fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (Fuzzy-DEMATEL). The result reveals that among the main group of enablers, "management-based factor" is the top-ranked followed by "training- and education-based factor" and "technology-based factor" with AHP weights 0.4008, 0.2742, and 0.1465 respectively. On the other hand, among the main groups of barriers, "training and education based factor" is at first rank trailed by "management-based factor" with AHP weights 0.4780 and 0.2915 respectively. The outcomes of current research will facilitate the MSMEs to make a favorable environment toward the LSS approach for increasing productivity and profitability dynamics. An engineering manager can use this paper to enhance social sustainability through the incorporation of LSS approach in the communities where they work. Moreover, this study provides a guiding reference for practitioners and academicians to undertake similar nature of problems into other industrial sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) has a great perspective in the reshaping the industry as it creates a working environment of integrated productivity between workers and machines. However, the adoption of I4.0 in developing countries like India needs deliberation in the perception of sustainability. This paper aims to identify sustainable I4.0 barriers and evaluates interrelationship amongst the barriers. Twenty barriers to sustainable I4.0 are determined from the literature review. Expert’s opinions are taken to finalise the identified barriers. Data are collected from Indian footwear industries and have been further analysed using the Fuzzy-DEMATEL approach. The results show that ‘Lack of new organizational policy’, ‘Lack of customer feedback and cooperation towards I4.0 and sustainable practices,’ and ‘Lack of infrastructure’ are the most significant barriers. The study guides the industries of developing economies to formulate an effective strategy for the adoption of I4.0. The future scope of the survey includes an extension to other emerging economies to improve the reliability and validation.

Integrating blockchain technology (BT) with the circular economy (CE) concepts into the building materials supply chain is a crucial yet understudied field of research. Incorporating blockchain into the supply chain of circular economy-driven construction materials poses challenges in ensuring transparency, traceability, and efficiency while meeting sustainability goals. To fill this gap, this study aims to investigate the critical success factors (CSFs) of blockchain technology in the supply chain of circular economy-driven construction materials. A thorough literature analysis was used to identify CSFs based on the PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal) aspects. Following that, expert interviews were used to confirm these CSFs. A questionnaire survey was developed and distributed online to gather information from industry and academic specialists. The fuzzy DEMATEL algorithm was used to analyze the gathered data. The study's findings emphasize CSFs, which include data security and privacy protections, stakeholder participation, and the accessibility and affordability of blockchain solutions. This study provides valuable advice to organizations incorporating blockchain technology while upholding circular economy standards. Additionally, by matching these CSFs to theoretical ideas, the study's theoretical implications highlight the positive synergy between technology, sustainability, and stakeholder participation. • Identified Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for blockchain in circular economy. • CSFs are categorized using PESTEL dimensions. • A fuzzy DEMATEL technique was applied to reveal cause-and-effect relationships. • Provided practical guidance on technology and sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the drastic changing process of the construction industry in China, construction program management has been given significant attention. Due to the complexity of construction programs, selecting competent managers is crucially important to its success. Therefore, based on a comprehensive literature review, this paper combines regret theory and the Fuzzy-DEMATEL method to develop a multi-attribute model for construction program manager selection. Firstly, six competence elements are extracted, then the manager selection and evaluation index system are constructed. Secondly, the regret theory is used to simulate the psychological characteristics of the decision makers, combined with Fuzzy-DEMATEL, the comprehensive weights for each element are calculated. Lastly, all alternatives for the selection are sorted and the competent ones are selected. A case study is provided to exam the effectiveness of the developed model. Results shows that the proposed model adopted multi-attribute evaluation and group decision making and took into account the psychological behavior of decision makers as well as influences from the relationships between different attributes. Such results indicate that the proposed model is able to provide more comprehensive and scientific construction program manager selections, which can further improve the management of construction programs.

Construction land reduction (CLR) is an important instrument for achieving environmental sustainability by reducing intensive land use, controlling the unrestrained extension of construction land, and ensuring a balance between construction and arable lands in China. Existing studies on key factors of CLR projects are rare, lacking comprehensive and systematic understanding. In this study, the fuzzy-AHP and fuzzy-DEMATEL methods were used to obtain the comprehensive causality and centrality values, whereby factors with a comprehensive causality value larger than 0 and a comprehensive centrality ranking in the top 20% were identified as key success factors (KSFs). Results indicate that KSFs include the presence of a supportive policy for CLR, coordination with the original landowner, coordination with the surrounding residents, a diversity of enterprises participating in the CLR, a legal environment, and land acceptance and testing standards. This paper lays a theoretical foundation for CLR projects and provides guidelines for achieving successful project implementations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to explore ways to apply information technologies such as big data, Internet of things (IoT), mobile internet, and so on to the healthcare industry. By analyzing the impact path of such high-techs on healthcare, it intends to propose an application system for the sustainable development of so called “smart healthcare”. It identifies the influencing factors of smart healthcare from three different perspectives: society, economy and environment. It then constructs an indicator system containing 14 factors, and comprehensively analyzes the importance and dependence of the factors by using Fuzzy Decision-making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and Interpretative Structural Modeling Method (ISM) based on a multi-level hierarchy model. Using the theoretical framework of scientific research methods, this paper reveals the hierarchical path of the sustainable development of the whole intelligent healthcare which starts from the social level, combines the social and economic levels to achieve the balanced development of benefits, and finally brings the benefits to the environmental level. Based on this finding, this paper develops a sustainable application system for intelligent medicine in three levels: government, enterprise and user. The development of the sustainable application system for smart healthcare can provide theoretical guidance for model application evaluation.

This paper aims to identify resilient supplier selection criteria in the desalination supply chain and analyze the interactions between them. We identify 89 criteria from the literature. In the second step, nineteen main criteria were identified based on the literature. Two different multi-criteria decision-making techniques, i.e. interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and fuzzy decision-making testing and evaluation laboratory (fuzzy-DEMATEL), were used to identify driving criteria. Furthermore, standard criteria from each technique, their hierarchies and inter-relationships have been established. The criteria modeling using ISM and Fuzzy-DEMATEL shows that the most influential/driving criteria are management, financial status, and culture. On the other hand, five criteria viz. service, quality, relationship building, adaptive capacity, and responsiveness were commonly identified as the most dependent resilient supplier selection criteria in the desalination supply chain across two different modeling techniques. The findings allow decision-makers to select the desired and drop undesired criteria to select resilient suppliers in desalination. The most common driving criteria can be given high priority over others and can significantly improve the resilient supplier selection. MCDM-based hierarchical models and a causal diagram for resilient supplier selection criteria depicting contextual inter-relationships have been proposed. The main novelty of this research is to identify and modeling resilient supplier selection criteria. Also, multi-criteria decision-making techniques have not been used in desalination supply chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2019–2020 COVID-19 pandemic has caused an economic turndown and high volatility in the global financial markets. Determining the factors that influence services to high-net-worth customers who typically have large investments in the financial markets is important for wealth management banks. This study constructs a hybrid approach by integrating the fuzzy logic and Decision-making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) methods to identify the most influential criteria affecting the performance of wealth management banks in Taiwan during the 2019–2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Surveys and interviews are designed using four dimensions (bank performance, service quality, customer relationship, and COVID-19) and 16 criteria for 10 banking executives using fuzzy linguistic scales, to obtain their expert opinions. The results show the order of influence as being service quality, customer relationships, bank performance, and COVID-19. The most important criteria are customized investment information (in-service quality), switching behavior (in-customer relationship), fee income (in-bank performance), and the number of confirmed cases in the top five countries affected by COVID-19. The managerial implication is that wealth management banks should focus on improving their service quality. Banks may strive to provide a wide range of customized investment information and increase customers' usage of personalized financial products and services. The results of this study will benefit bank managers in serving high-net-worth individuals during the crisis period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With enlargement of costs of training and hazards, and high responsibility of job, importance of proper selection of pilots is huge. The nature of flight mission can be equally important factor for selection, so as different abilities and test results. On the sample of 50 pilots of different types of helicopter missions (military, police and commercial) without accidents in career, pilots had to make assessment about traits which are high important for successful helicopter pilot, and then make self - assessment based on five point Likert scale. Data were processed by fuzzy - DEMATEL and fuzzy - TOPSIS methods. Quantitative and qualitative differences in assessment of personality traits for successful helicopter pilots between three branches were found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reverse logistics (RL) has been proven to have a positive effect on addressing the issue of effectively utilizing resources. India has a population of over one billion people with most of it dominated by youth. Developing RL strategies and exposing it to students will encourage them to find ways to manage the limited resources available in our country. This study is focused on identifying the challenges of RL implementation in education institutes in India and finding the inter-relationship among them. The most crucial barrier to RL implementation in educational institutes is also sought in the process. We initially review the RL practices in the Indian sub-continent to examine the challenges of effectively implementing RL. We then identify the challenges of RL based on literature and discussions with experts from the education industry. The experts selected for this study include administrators from schools and universities in Kerala, India (South India). A survey was conducted in two phases. The Fuzzy-DEMATEL technique was applied to determine the inter-relationship between the challenges and obtain the causal diagram. Initially, 45 challenges were identified. Based on responses from experts from phase one of the survey, it was narrowed down to 29 crucial challenges. A pairwise comparison among the challenges was then done by experts in the education field. Finally, on the application of Fuzzy-DEMATEL, a causal diagram was generated to indicate the extent of influence of the RL challenges. Our findings indicate that educational institutions are faced with lack of awareness about reverse logistic, lack of responsibilities about environment, resistance to change, lack of supplies on supplier end, lack of knowledge, and no proper outlet for disposal in managing RL operations in educational institutes. The challenges identified in our study is unique to the Indian sub-continent and provides a result based on the current scenario of RL implementation in Indian educational institutes. The findings from our study indicate a unique perspective of RL implementation challenges. We analyzed 29 challenges to obtain our findings. Furthermore, we use Fuzzy-DEMATEL as our analysis tool to facilitate finding results. We present this as the uniqueness of our study from the available literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fourth industrial revolution, fueled by automation and digital technology advancements, enables us to manage manufacturing systems effectively. Its deployment in enterprises has now become increasingly important in developed and emerging economies. Many experts believe that barriers associated with Industry 4.0 implementation are critical to its success. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the major hurdles to Industry 4.0 adoption and reveal their interrelationships. Initially, the literature was thoroughly studied to determine the sixteen barriers impeding I4.0 adoption. Then, based on experts’ opinions, an integrated fuzzy-DEMATEL approach was utilized to examine the most significant challenges to I4.0 deployment. The results demonstrated the distribution of barriers in which the economic dimension played a decisive role, affecting technological, regulatory, and organizational dimensions. As observed in the barrier mapping, the lack of qualified workforce was a typical adoption barrier. Finally, the mitigation strategies developed would help managers to overcome the identified critical obstacles.

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) has a great perspective in the reshaping the industry as it creates a working environment of integrated productivity between workers and machines. However, the adoption of I4.0 in developing countries like India needs deliberation in the perception of sustainability. This paper aims to identify sustainable I4.0 barriers and evaluates interrelationship amongst the barriers. Twenty barriers to sustainable I4.0 are determined from the literature review. Expert's opinions are taken to finalise the identified barriers. Data are collected from Indian footwear industries and have been further analysed using the Fuzzy-DEMATEL approach. The results show that 'Lack of new organizational policy', 'Lack of customer feedback and cooperation towards I4.0 and sustainable practices,' and 'Lack of infrastructure' are the most significant barriers. The study guides the industries of developing economies to formulate an effective strategy for the adoption of I4.0. The future scope of the survey includes an extension to other emerging economies to improve the reliability and validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An unrecognized significance of the web acts as a driving force for the massive and rapid growth of websites in each domain of social life. For making a successful website, it is necessary for developers to embrace appropriate web testing and evaluation methodology. Some valuable works in the past have striven to appraise the web applications quantitatively. Various parameters have been considered which are again sub-parameterized to measurable indicators. But their weighing criterion has not been appropriately taken into account according to the domain of the website. Also, the relative degrees of interactions among parameters have not been taken into consideration. The work presented in this paper aims at describing a framework, Quality Index Evaluation Method to gauge the design quality of a website in the form of index value. An automated tool has been designed and coded to measure the metrics quantitatively. A weighing technique based on Fuzzy-DEMATEL (Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory Method) has been applied on these metrics. Fuzzy trapezoidal numbers have been used for assessment of parameters and the final design quality index value. To verify the use of framework in different website domains, it has been exercised on eight academic (four institutional and four digital libraries), five informative and four commercial websites. The results have been validated through the most widely used method in literature, i.e., user judgment. Opinions of users for each website have been quantified and aggregated with fuzzy aggregation technique. Experimental results show that the proposed framework provides accurate and consistent results in very less time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]