Measuring the Readiness of Public Policies for Einclusion of the 54+ Population with a Composite Index-The Croatian Counties Case

Digitization of society in all aspects has been a priority of public policies over the previous decade, as seen by the events of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is becoming much more difficult because the key to digitalization is people who are ready to take advantage of the benefits of digital technologies, and there are an increasing number of elderly people who are largely unprepared for changes and the implementation of digital technologies. A variety of stakeholders, particularly governmental authorities, should give critical support and encouragement to achieve this goal through public policies. The purpose of this study is to describe the use of a composite index to assess the readiness of public policies for the e-inclusion of the 54+ population. Data for this study were gathered from policies that are part of strategic documents available on public websites or by direct contact with regional self-government units. The documents were gathered from a convenient sample of eight counties in the Republic of Croatia. An analysis of the fiveyear (2016-2020) documentation was conducted. The analysis aimed to quantify parameters indicating the readiness of public policies for e-inclusion of the 54+ population across each observed county. Multivariate analysis was employed to analyze the collected data. Data normalization was applied, and weighting factors were determined based on the conclusions from the focus groups. Data aggregation was performed, followed by a sensitivity test to assess the results' responsiveness to changes in the weighting factors. Final conclusions of the research indicate that the readiness of public policies for e-inclusion of the 54+ population is low in the examined counties, as none of the eight analyzed counties in the Republic of Croatia achieved even 50% of the maximum indicator value in the year 2020.