Neutrosophic AHP framework for decision making and faculty performance evaluation in India: A case study in selecting the best teaching faculty of the year

The primary goal of this research is to present a novel integration of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) with neutrosophic set theory to enhance decision-making under uncertainty. Traditional AHP and fuzzy AHP techniques often struggle to handle the imprecision and indeterminacy arising from limited information or diverse individual assessments in group decision-making contexts. To address these limitations, this study introduces the concept of Triangular Neutrosophic Numbers (TNN) within the AHP framework, offering a robust mechanism to model and manage uncertainty. This innovation enables a more nuanced representation of pairwise comparisons, significantly improving the accuracy and reliability of decision-making outcomes. To demonstrate its applicability, a neutrosophic AHP-based decision-making model is proposed for selecting the most qualified teaching faculty from a pool of candidates. A real-world case study conducted at Vignan University, India, highlights the effectiveness of the proposed model in capturing expert evaluations and delivering actionable insights.