Nonparametric frontier analysis with multiple constituencies

Abstract. We introduce a methodology for generalizing Data Envelopment Analysis to incorporate the role and impact of constituencies in the classification of the model’s attributes. Constituencies determine whether entities’ attributes in a DEA study are treated as desirable or undesirable. This extension of DEA is the basis for a methodology to answer questions that arise such as: Which constituencies find what entities efficient? Which entities are in the efficient frontier for a specified constituency? and What benchmarking prescriptions apply to inefficient entities for a given constituency? Constituencies allow new applications for DEA. Analyses of public projects to determine their impact on voters, marketing studies where a product defined by multiple attributes is analyzed with respect to diverse markets are two examples of the type of application for the new methodology. We introduce a DEA LP especially formulated for this new framework with many desirable properties. The new methodology is motivated and validated with a cost-benefit analysis application for a public project.