Evaluating Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Levels in Visegrad Countries: A Performance Analysis Using MPSI-LOPCOW-BSS Framework

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are the keys to the competitiveness of both states and businesses. The rapid advancements and developments in technology and communication have led to the emergence of information and communication technologies. The policymaking authorities are making the proper arrangements for the maintenance and growth of the infrastructure for information and communication technologies. In this view, the study and assessment of the ICT levels of different countries become a fundamental issue. Therefore, this project is an in-depth study of the Visegrad countries ICT performance, which was analyzed using the selected list of criteria which included; ICT employment, ICT investment, ICT value-added, ICT goods exports, internet access, and home computer access. In this research, the MPSI and LOPCOW methods were applied to determine the weights of the criteria, which were then combined with an aggregation operator to derive the final criteria weights. Soon afterward, the countries' ICT levels were ranked by means of the BSS method. The study proposes an integrated MPSI-LOPCOW-BSS decision support system. As a result of the application, the criterion with the highest weight was found to be "ICT Investment." The country rankings are Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia.