Assessing the Perceived Importance of Digitalization for Promotion of Heritage Preservation in Media: A Comparative AHP–FAHP Approach

The study addresses the research gap concerning the role of traditional media and social networks in the promotion and perceived preservation of Serbia’s material and intangible cultural heritage, with particular emphasis on digitalization and digital infrastructure. The study is based on a survey of 323 respondents and an expert panel of three experts. Linear regression and fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making methods are combined to identify and prioritize factors relevant to cultural heritage promotion and preservation. FAHP is employed to account for the subjectivity, uncertainty, and imprecision inherent in expert judgments when assessing the relative importance of qualitative and digitalization-related factors, while the analysis of different optimism-index values enables the stability of expert priorities to be examined under varying levels of uncertainty. The results indicate that digitalization and the implementation of modern technologies within strategic planning frameworks are perceived as highly important. In the AHP analysis, YouTube received the highest weight (0.2655), followed by Instagram and Facebook (0.1557 each). Across the FAHP scenarios, YouTube consistently ranked first, followed by Instagram and Facebook, while the relative ordering of the main sub-criteria remained stable across different optimism-index values. These findings reflect respondents’ perceptions and experts’ relative priorities rather than direct evidence of causal preservation effects or statistical significance. The results may inform cultural heritage management and digital transformation initiatives by highlighting perceived priorities for the use of digital media, while providing a basis for further research.