A new method of determining decision-making unit congestion under inter-temporal dependence

Abstract

Congestion is an important concept in data envelopment analysis (DEA). It occurs when the decrease of at least one decision making unit (DMU) input results in the increase of at least one output ineffective on other inputs or outputs. Until present, various methods have been discussed in terms of congestion determination in static DEA although no study has still been performed on congestion calculation in dynamic DEA under inter-temporal dependence. In this paper, congested input levels in multi-period production systems under inter-temporal dependence and further, the inter-temporal dependence of production periods due to the stock capital are studied. The advantage of dynamic DEA congestion method specification lies in the prevention of inappropriate resources allocation during evaluation periods. The validity of the proposed method has further been demonstrated via empirical example for better observation.