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Fuzzy preference programming formulation in data envelopment analysis for university department evaluation

Dyanne Brendalyn Mirasol-Cavero (Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of San Carlos, Cebu City, Philippines and Department of Industrial Engineering, Cebu Technological University, Cebu City, Philippines)
Lanndon Ocampo (Department of Industrial Engineering, Cebu Technological University, Cebu City, Philippines and Center for Applied Mathematics and Operations Research, Cebu Technological University, Cebu City, Philippines)

Journal of Modelling in Management

ISSN: 1746-5664

Article publication date: 11 October 2021

Issue publication date: 17 January 2023

188

Abstract

Purpose

University department efficiency evaluation is a performance assessment on how departments use their resources to attain their goals. The most widely used tool in measuring the efficiency of academic departments in data envelopment analysis (DEA) deals with crisp data, which may be, often, imprecise, vague, missing or predicted. Current literature offers various approaches to addressing these uncertainties by introducing fuzzy set theory within the basic DEA framework. However, current fuzzy DEA approaches fail to handle missing data, particularly in output values, which are prevalent in real-life evaluation. Thus, this study aims to augment these limitations by offering a fuzzy DEA variation.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper proposes a more flexible approach by introducing the fuzzy preference programming – DEA (FPP-DEA), where the outputs are expressed as fuzzy numbers and the inputs are conveyed in their actual crisp values. A case study in one of the top higher education institutions in the Philippines was conducted to elucidate the proposed FPP-DEA with fuzzy outputs.

Findings

Due to its high discriminating power, the proposed model is more constricted in reporting the efficiency scores such that there are lesser reported efficient departments. Although the proposed model can still calculate efficiency no matter how much missing and unavailable, and uncertain data, more comprehensive data accessibility would return an accurate and precise efficiency score.

Originality/value

This study offers a fuzzy DEA formulation via FPP, which can handle missing, unavailable and imprecise data for output values.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

D. B. Cavero wishes to thank the Engineering Research and Development for Technology (ERDT) of the Philippine Department of Science and Technology (DOST) for the financial support provided through a full graduate scholarship grant. The authors are also grateful to the USC for its support in data gathering. Finally, the authors recognize the support of Christine Omela Ocampo while D. B. Cavero was still doing her graduate studies at the USC.

Citation

Mirasol-Cavero, D.B. and Ocampo, L. (2023), "Fuzzy preference programming formulation in data envelopment analysis for university department evaluation", Journal of Modelling in Management, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 212-238. https://doi.org/10.1108/JM2-08-2020-0205

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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