An Integrated Spherical Fuzzy Multi-criterion Group Decision-Making Approach and Its Application in Digital Marketing Technology Assessment

Digital marketing technology can not only help enterprises effectively control marketing costs but also accurately identify target customers and determine customer needs to improve marketing conversion rates. Multiple conflicting and asymmetric criteria need to be taken simultaneously into account to effectively assess digital marketing technology. Accordingly, the target of our paper is to propound an enhanced additive ratio assessment (ARAS) methodology to aid experts in evaluating digital marketing technology in a complex uncertain setting. The spherical fuzzy (SF) set is an expansion of the picture fuzzy set (PFS) that has been recognized as a powerful model to portray indeterminacy and vagueness. A fresh score function is proffered to compare the SF numbers and its merits are also analyzed. Then, some novel operations for SF numbers are defined and several aggregation operators based on them are propounded. Further, a mixed multi-criteria group decision-making (MCGDM) method is developed by incorporating the method based on the removal effects of criteria (MEREC), step-wise weight assessment ratio analysis (SWARA), and enhanced ARAS approach under SF information. Also, a case concerning digital marketing technology evaluation is executed to prove the efficiency and practicability of the presented SF-MEREC–SWARA–ARAS method. Finally, contrast and sensitivity investigations are also implemented to highlight the strengths and robustness of the proffered methodology, respectively.