Information theoretic approach for constructing a super data envelopment analysis

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide a robust statistical procedure for evaluating and measuring the relative efficiency of multiple decision-making units. This robust approach is based on the generalized maximum entropy principle.Design methodology approach - Information-theoretic esti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Asian journal on quality 2011-06, Vol.12 (1), p.54-66
Main Authors: Al-Nasser, Amjad D., Rahim Y. Al-Atrash, Abdel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Data envelopment analysis
Efficiency
Entropy
Expected values
Lagrange multiplier
Linear programming
Mathematical programming
Random variables
Studies
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Summary:Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide a robust statistical procedure for evaluating and measuring the relative efficiency of multiple decision-making units. This robust approach is based on the generalized maximum entropy principle.Design methodology approach - Information-theoretic estimation approach is employed in this paper and a comparison is made with the classical relative efficiency (CCR) by using a non-parametric bootstrap simulation. A real data application on the research performance of faculty members at Yarmouk University is presented.Findings - Results indicate that the relative efficiency based on the generalized maximum entropy estimation approach is more accurate, costs less and is more efficient than the CCR relative efficiency.Research limitations implications - Owing to use of Shannon's entropy formulation, it is still critical whether the results also hold with cross entropy or a higher order entropy formulation for modeling additive, multiplicative or partial relative efficiency.Originality value - A super data envelopment analysis has been introduced for finding superior decision-making units (DMU) by solving only one nonlinear programming system, which could be considered as a flexible tool for modeling multiple input-output DMU.
ISSN:1598-2688
2054-555X
DOI:10.1108/15982681111140543