A least deviation method for priority derivation in group decision making with incomplete reciprocal preference relations

•A least deviation method is proposed to obtain the priority vector for incomplete FPR.•Relevant theorems are investigated and a convergent iterative algorithm about LDM developed.•Statistical comparative study, complexity of computation of different algorithms are provided.

In this paper, based on the transfer relationship between reciprocal preference relation and multiplicative preference relation, we proposed a least deviation method (LDM) to obtain a priority vector for group decision making (GDM) problems where decision-makers' (DMs') assessments on alternatives are furnished as incomplete reciprocal preference relations with missing values. Relevant theorems are investigated and a convergent iterative algorithm about LDM is developed. Using three numerical examples, the LDM is compared with the other prioritization methods based on two performance evaluation criteria: maximum deviation and maximum absolute deviation. Statistical comparative study, complexity of computation of different algorithms, and comparative analyses are provided to show its advantages over existing approaches.