Determinants of foreign direct investment in the textile sector: a researchwith IT2 Fuzzy TOPSIS methodology

This study aims to identify the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the textile sectors in Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia and Türkiye. The study assesses these criteria through paired comparisons conducted by experts who have a minimum of 10 years of professional experience in the field and analyses them using the IT2 Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) technique. According to the findings, the criteria with the highest degree of importance are national security, inflation rate, patent and trademark protection, transportation networks and market size. On a country-by-country basis, Poland has a higher investment attraction potential compared to other countries according to the criteria of openness, corruption, legal regulations and privatization policies, import and export quotas, education and professional status, renewable energy resources, sustainability, intellectual property protection, patent and trademark protection and national security. Hungary scores highest on import and export quotas and tax rates, while Slovakia stands out on import and export quotas and waste management/environmental regulations. Romania scores highest on profitability and debt financing, labour costs and import and export quotas. Czechia scores highest on inflation rate, political stability, legal regulations and privatization policies, economic incentives, general trade policies, import and export quotas and cultural situation and lifestyle. Türkiye scores the highest in terms of market size, GDP growth rate, access to raw materials and markets, technological infrastructure and innovation, transport networks, production sites, energy production, import and export quotas and business-friendly approaches.