Title: A hesitant fuzzy cognitive mapping approach with risk preferences for student accommodation problems

Authors: H. Ghaderi; H. Gitinavard; S. Meysam Mousavi; Behnam Vahdani

Addresses: Department of Industrial Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran ' Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran ' Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran ' Faculty of Industrial and Mechanical Engineering, Qazvin Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin, Iran

Abstract: In this paper, a new fuzzy cognitive mapping approach is proposed, in which the values of the concepts and the strength of the links are presented through a set of possible values under hesitant fuzzy sets (HFSs). In particular, we discuss student accommodation problems which can occur at every education system and affect students' academic achievements. In this regard, we interview with the university chancellor, the student accommodation manager, and the top student to create individual cognitive maps; then, these cognitive maps aggregate to build the strategic cognitive map. In this study, based on the experts' opinions, three kinds of scenarios, optimistic, moderate, and pessimistic, are developed. By so doing, the concept with the most value is determined. Furthermore, the effects of different initial values of the concepts on the final values and the number of simulation iterations are analysed.

Keywords: system thinking; strategic thinking; fuzzy cognitive map; hesitant fuzzy sets; HFSs; student accommodation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAMS.2017.088225

International Journal of Applied Management Science, 2017 Vol.9 No.4, pp.253 - 293

Accepted: 26 Oct 2016
Published online: 30 Nov 2017 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article