Fairness Perception from a Network-Centric Perspective
This work addresses fairness perception in algorithmic decisions, particularly in peer-review networks, but is incremental as it builds on existing fairness metrics.
The paper tackles algorithmic fairness by introducing a network-centric fairness perception function and analyzing its properties, showing its utility in assessing fairness in paper acceptance decisions and extending it to a group fairness metric with a demonstrated pitfall that can be alleviated by increasing local neighborhood size.
Algorithmic fairness is a major concern in recent years as the influence of machine learning algorithms becomes more widespread. In this paper, we investigate the issue of algorithmic fairness from a network-centric perspective. Specifically, we introduce a novel yet intuitive function known as network-centric fairness perception and provide an axiomatic approach to analyze its properties. Using a peer-review network as case study, we also examine its utility in terms of assessing the perception of fairness in paper acceptance decisions. We show how the function can be extended to a group fairness metric known as fairness visibility and demonstrate its relationship to demographic parity. We also illustrate a potential pitfall of the fairness visibility measure that can be exploited to mislead individuals into perceiving that the algorithmic decisions are fair. We demonstrate how the problem can be alleviated by increasing the local neighborhood size of the fairness perception function.