Decision-makers’ behavioral characteristics and multiple criteria decision aiding. Impact of decision-making style and experience on methods’ use, evaluation, and recommendation

The study aims to identify relationships among selected behavioral characteristics of decision-makers (DMs), i.e., experience in making complex decisions, decision-making style, and ability to use various multiple criteria decision-aiding (MCDA) methods coherently, and their impact on the evaluation of the latter functionality and recommendations for future use. The relationships were verified using experimental data through a structural equation model (SEM) and cluster analysis for three MCDA methods, i.e., AHP, SMART, and TOPSIS. One of the strongest effects identified by SEM was observed between coherence in methods’ use and the DM’s opinion on their functionality. DM’s satisfaction and future willingness to use MCDA tools are related to the positive experience gained from using these tools in advance. Decision-making styles shape method selection, with TOPSIS favored by highly experienced DMs, SMART by highly rational, and AHP by those with low experience and a rational approach.