Data Envelopment Analysis: From Normative to Descriptive Performance Evaluation

The question of modern performance evaluation has been extensively discussed in the literature, leading to a call for models including non-optimizing behaviors of decision makers and non-financial performance criteria. A promising management instrument is data envelopment analysis (DEA), which enables the aggregation of financial and non-financial indicators into a single measure. This work contributes to a better understanding of DEA from two perspectives: (i) it offers a normative solution to the zero-value weight problem and (ii) it provides the first experimental results on behavioral DEA based on an original taxonomy of cognitive biases related to performance evaluation. Behavioral DEA is a completely new research area which yields plenty of research opportunities.

The question of modern performance evaluation has been extensively discussed in the literature, leading to a call for models including non-optimizing behaviors of decision makers and non-financial performance criteria. A promising management instrument is data envelopment analysis (DEA), which enables the aggregation of financial and non-financial indicators into a single measure. This work contributes to a better understanding of DEA from two perspectives: (i) it offers a normative solution to the zero-value weight problem and (ii) it provides the first experimental results on behavioral DEA based on an original taxonomy of cognitive biases related to performance evaluation. Behavioral DEA is a completely new research area which yields plenty of research opportunities.