Convergence in the context of the EU has always been considered the main mechanism for achieving socio-economic cohesion. Macroeconomic convergence was absent for a significant part of the first decade of Croatias membership in the EU. Other new member states capitalized successfully couple of the first years of EU membership compared to Croatia. This trend has been changing in recent years thanks to the strong recovery of the Croatian economy after the global crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The question arises whether this process is only temporarily by nature under the influence of EU funds inflow during the recovery period after pandemic crisis and strong recovery of tourism industry, or is it long-term? In this context, macroeconomic convergence processes in certain areas will be analyzed. These areas are a) analysis of structural decomposition and sources of growth of the Croatian economy, b) price convergence, c) international competitiveness convergence, d) tourism as a source of accelerated economic convergence and e) price convergence on the real estate market in economy based on rents.

The research project will develop a comprehensive integrated model of privacy concern in the online environment and empirically test it in order to provide deeper understanding of various interactions between antecedents, concerns and consequences of online privacy. The research objectives will be achieved initially by identifying and developing (i) a comprehensive list of antecedents such as demographic factors (e.g. gender, education), experience factors (e.g. internet use experience, web expertise) and social-psychological factors (values, attitudes), and (ii) a comprehensive list of consequences of online privacy concern on individual-user level. These inputs will be used to develop an extended integrated model of online privacy concern in order to examine conceptual interrelations. Upon building a model, a customized survey questionnaire will be designed and measurement instruments for variables tested. The field research will consist of surveying 2,000 citizens in Croatia to assess their attitudes and behavior patterns when taking different roles and actions in the online environment. This core part of the research aims to empirically test the conceptualized model by employing adequate analytical tools to the large database collected in the survey. The research will result in the final definition of integrated theoretical framework of online privacy concern that will consolidate various streams of research in this field. The extended model of online privacy concern could be applied in future development in the related domain. The additional project outcomes are policy implications and recommendations for regulatory control, internet users policy and business strategies.

The project is divided into five units: a) informal institutions in the digital environment, b) adoption, emergence and spread of technologies and analysis of their effects within different sectors, c) innovative consumer buying behavior, d) sustainability and skills, and e) methodology for improvement of reliability of subjective data and application to innovation. The first unit analyzes the behavior of business entities and individuals in certain informal, permitted or prohibited business practices. The second part refers to the adoption, creation and spread of technologies at the level of population, within the business sector as well as the scientific and research sector. As part of the analysis of the business sector, female entrepreneurship in the sector of high-tech and knowledge-intensive companies will be analyzed, as well as the differences between different management styles in relation to company performance. Within the third set of topics, the attitudes, perceptions and propensity of consumers towards innovations and the purchase of new products/services are analyzed. The fourth unit refers to topics within which innovations and technological changes are analyzed and their impact on the general level of well-being and sustainability of the entire social economic system. With the exception of the concept of ecologically sustainable business, this unit will also explore the matching of competences on the labor market. The fifth unit is the development of methods for improving the reliability of subjective data and their application to the development of innovations and beyond.

The project will examine the economic, social, technological and institutional aspects of local and regional development in Croatia. The subject of the research is local and/or regional units in Croatia, and the research itself is carried out through three components. The first component includes the examination of inequalities between local and/or regional units in the Republic of Croatia regarding the capacities to perform public functions, which are measured by indicators constructed on the basis of available secondary data and by exploring citizens’ (residents’) perceptions. The second component is related to the determination of inequalities between local and/or regional units in the Republic of Croatia in the application of new technologies in the management of local and/or regional problems. This component also includes primary and secondary research. The third component of the project refers to the examination of the links between innovation development, entrepreneurship, creativity, sustainability and local/regional development. This component is carried out through secondary research, and if necessary, the results of the conducted primary research from the first two components can be used.