Abstract Digital technologies are used to record, present and share intangible cultural heritage. Yet most evaluation research still measures success by audience reach and interaction, rather than by whether digital systems support long-term cultural continuation. We develop a hybrid multi-attribute decision-making framework from a socio-technical systems perspective, integrating the Fuzzy Delphi Method, DEMATEL-based ANP and modified VIKOR, and apply it to three heritage types: Cantonese Opera, Guangxiu embroidery and Lion Dance. Contrary to the assumption that more digital investment means better continuation, the dimension of governance collaboration and institutional support emerges as the only net influence-giving dimension. The highest-weighted factor, intergenerational transmission support, occupies an influence-receiving position and is shaped by upstream conditions, making it unlikely to be improved through direct intervention alone. Data interoperability remains a common performance gap across the three cases. The framework links case-level performance gaps to upstream conditions, moving evaluation from measuring visibility toward diagnosing continuation.
Wang et al. (Wed,) studied this question.