A large group hesitant fuzzy linguistic DEMATEL approach for identifying critical success factors in public health emergencies

Purpose: How to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) of public health emergencies (PHEs) is of great practical significance to carry out a scientific and effective risk assessment. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, the authors propose a new approach to identify the CSFs by hesitant fuzzy linguistic set and a Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) approach. First, a larger group of experts are clustered into three groups according to similarity degree. Then, the weight of each cluster is determined by the maximum consensus method, and the overall direct influence matrix is obtained by clustering with hesitant fuzzy linguistic weighted geometric (HFLWG) operators. Finally, the overall direct influence matrix is transformed into the crisp direct impact matrix by the score function, and 11 CSFs of PHEs are identified by using the extended DEMATEL method. Findings: In addition, an example of PHEs shows that the approach has good identification applicability. The approach can be used to solve the problems of fuzziness and subjectivity in linguistic assessments, and it can be applied to identify the customer service framework with the linguistic assessments process in emergency management. Originality/value: This paper extends the above DEMATEL method to study in the hesitant fuzzy linguistic context. This proposed hybrid approach has a wider application in the high-risk area where disasters frequently occur. © 2023 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.