A new strategy for constructing alternative consumer confidence indexes to explain household consumption: A fuzzy DEMATEL approach

Background: Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) is a measure obtained from consumer surveys (CS) that gauges assessments and expectations of the economic environment. Common practice uses 4 of the 12 questions in CCI calculation. However, efforts to find best set of questions continue, such as the Europ...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Özge Var, Alptekin Durmuşoğlu, Türkay Dereli
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-01-01
Series:Heliyon
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844024174786
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832573140179353600
author Özge Var
Alptekin Durmuşoğlu
Türkay Dereli
author_facet Özge Var
Alptekin Durmuşoğlu
Türkay Dereli
author_sort Özge Var
collection DOAJ
description Background: Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) is a measure obtained from consumer surveys (CS) that gauges assessments and expectations of the economic environment. Common practice uses 4 of the 12 questions in CCI calculation. However, efforts to find best set of questions continue, such as the European Commission swapping two questions in 2019. Literature studies employ different combinations of questions; however all-alternative combinations take too much time and computational power. The questions also exhibit cause-and-effect relationships as household consumption predictors and are not statistically independent of one another. Objective: We suggest classifying the CS questions as ''Causes'' and ''Effects.'' It makes sense that inquiries in the cause group should provide a better explanation of household consumption. If this theory turns out to be correct, a smaller solution space will be able to be used to find the ideal substitute CCI. Method: A fuzzy DEMATEL (Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory), a reliable method to present causal relationships, is used to classification. The prediction power of cause group (in terms of explaining household expenditures) is measured with the Lasso regression (Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator), which provides more interpretable regression models. This approach was applied to European Union dataset from 2007Q3 to 2021Q2. Results: The cause group included four CS questions and explained the 75% variability of the consumption expenditures. It is performed comparably to earlier studies that took into account all possible question combinations. The Türkiye case, covering data from 2007 to 2021, supported the finding of EU case, explaining 84% variation in consumption expenditures. Conclusion: These encouraging results suggest that comparable prediction power can be attained with a significant reduction in effort (in comparison to all brute force). Therefore, this approach would provide shortcut for constructing alternative CCIs to the authorities.
format Article
id doaj-art-482aa64d87d34e53bf49387c4569fca1
institution Kabale University
issn 2405-8440
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Heliyon
spelling doaj-art-482aa64d87d34e53bf49387c4569fca12025-02-02T05:27:48ZengElsevierHeliyon2405-84402025-01-01112e41447A new strategy for constructing alternative consumer confidence indexes to explain household consumption: A fuzzy DEMATEL approachÖzge Var0Alptekin Durmuşoğlu1Türkay Dereli2Department of Industrial Engineering, Gaziantep University, Gaziantep, Turkey; Corresponding author. Üniversite Bulvarı, Mühendislik Fakültesi, Endüstri Mühendisliği Bölümü, 27310 Şehitkamil, Gaziantep, Türkiye.Department of Industrial Engineering, Samsun University, Samsun, TurkeyOffice of President, Hasan Kalyoncu University, Gaziantep, TurkeyBackground: Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) is a measure obtained from consumer surveys (CS) that gauges assessments and expectations of the economic environment. Common practice uses 4 of the 12 questions in CCI calculation. However, efforts to find best set of questions continue, such as the European Commission swapping two questions in 2019. Literature studies employ different combinations of questions; however all-alternative combinations take too much time and computational power. The questions also exhibit cause-and-effect relationships as household consumption predictors and are not statistically independent of one another. Objective: We suggest classifying the CS questions as ''Causes'' and ''Effects.'' It makes sense that inquiries in the cause group should provide a better explanation of household consumption. If this theory turns out to be correct, a smaller solution space will be able to be used to find the ideal substitute CCI. Method: A fuzzy DEMATEL (Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory), a reliable method to present causal relationships, is used to classification. The prediction power of cause group (in terms of explaining household expenditures) is measured with the Lasso regression (Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator), which provides more interpretable regression models. This approach was applied to European Union dataset from 2007Q3 to 2021Q2. Results: The cause group included four CS questions and explained the 75% variability of the consumption expenditures. It is performed comparably to earlier studies that took into account all possible question combinations. The Türkiye case, covering data from 2007 to 2021, supported the finding of EU case, explaining 84% variation in consumption expenditures. Conclusion: These encouraging results suggest that comparable prediction power can be attained with a significant reduction in effort (in comparison to all brute force). Therefore, this approach would provide shortcut for constructing alternative CCIs to the authorities.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844024174786Consumer confidence indexConsumer surveysFuzzy DEMATELHousehold consumptionLasso regression
spellingShingle Özge Var
Alptekin Durmuşoğlu
Türkay Dereli
A new strategy for constructing alternative consumer confidence indexes to explain household consumption: A fuzzy DEMATEL approach
Heliyon
Consumer confidence index
Consumer surveys
Fuzzy DEMATEL
Household consumption
Lasso regression
title A new strategy for constructing alternative consumer confidence indexes to explain household consumption: A fuzzy DEMATEL approach
title_full A new strategy for constructing alternative consumer confidence indexes to explain household consumption: A fuzzy DEMATEL approach
title_fullStr A new strategy for constructing alternative consumer confidence indexes to explain household consumption: A fuzzy DEMATEL approach
title_full_unstemmed A new strategy for constructing alternative consumer confidence indexes to explain household consumption: A fuzzy DEMATEL approach
title_short A new strategy for constructing alternative consumer confidence indexes to explain household consumption: A fuzzy DEMATEL approach
title_sort new strategy for constructing alternative consumer confidence indexes to explain household consumption a fuzzy dematel approach
topic Consumer confidence index
Consumer surveys
Fuzzy DEMATEL
Household consumption
Lasso regression
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844024174786
work_keys_str_mv AT ozgevar anewstrategyforconstructingalternativeconsumerconfidenceindexestoexplainhouseholdconsumptionafuzzydematelapproach
AT alptekindurmusoglu anewstrategyforconstructingalternativeconsumerconfidenceindexestoexplainhouseholdconsumptionafuzzydematelapproach
AT turkaydereli anewstrategyforconstructingalternativeconsumerconfidenceindexestoexplainhouseholdconsumptionafuzzydematelapproach
AT ozgevar newstrategyforconstructingalternativeconsumerconfidenceindexestoexplainhouseholdconsumptionafuzzydematelapproach
AT alptekindurmusoglu newstrategyforconstructingalternativeconsumerconfidenceindexestoexplainhouseholdconsumptionafuzzydematelapproach
AT turkaydereli newstrategyforconstructingalternativeconsumerconfidenceindexestoexplainhouseholdconsumptionafuzzydematelapproach