A Novel Approach to Multi-Attribute Group Decision-Making with q-Rung Picture Linguistic Information

The proposed q-rung orthopair fuzzy set (q-ROFS) and picture fuzzy set (PIFS) are two powerful tools for depicting fuzziness and uncertainty. This paper proposes a new tool, called q-rung picture linguistic set (q-RPLS) to deal with vagueness and impreciseness in multi-attribute group decision-making (MAGDM). The proposed q-RPLS takes full advantages of q-ROFS and PIFS and reflects decision-makers’ quantitative and qualitative assessments. To effectively aggregate q-rung picture linguistic information, we extend the classic Heronian mean (HM) to q-RPLSs and propose a family of q-rung picture linguistic Heronian mean operators, such as the q-rung picture linguistic Heronian mean (q-RPLHM) operator, the q-rung picture linguistic weighted Heronian mean (q-RPLWHM) operator, the q-rung picture linguistic geometric Heronian mean (q-RPLGHM) operator, and the q-rung picture linguistic weighted geometric Heronian mean (q-RPLWGHM) operator. The prominent advantage of the proposed operators is that the interrelationship between q-rung picture linguistic numbers (q-RPLNs) can be considered. Further, we put forward a novel approach to MAGDM based on the proposed operators. We also provide a numerical example to demonstrate the validity and superiorities of the proposed method.