Cross-efficiency evaluation in data envelopment analysis based on prospect theory

Cross-efficiency evaluation in data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a useful tool in evaluating the performance of decision-making units (DMUs). It is generally assumed that decision makers (DMs) are completely rational in common cross-efficiency evaluation models, which fail to consider the DM's risk attitude that plays an important role in the evaluation process. To fill this gap, we investigate the cross-efficiency evaluation in DEA based on prospect theory. First, we introduce a prospect value of the DMU to capture the non-rational psychological aspects of a DM under risk. Second, based on the prospect value, we propose a new cross-efficiency model termed the prospect cross-efficiency (PCE) model. Particularly, some existing cross-efficiency evaluation models can be deemed as the special cases of the PCE model with suitable adjustments of the parameters. Furthermore, this paper provides an empirical example to evaluate cross-efficiency with several selected universities directly managed by the Ministry of Education of China to illustrate the effectiveness of the PCE model in ranking DMUs.