European Union information in an acceding country: An investigation of information needs and seeking behavior

The purpose of this paper is to present the exploratory study whose aim was to investigate the information needs and information-seeking behavior of post-secondary students related to the European Union (EU) in Croatia.

A total of 504 students enrolled in post-secondary education across country took part in this study. Data were collected through an online survey during a 60-day period preceding the Croatia’s full membership in the EU.

The findings revealed the high need for information about the EU among the student population. The respondents required European information in a wide range of thematic areas and the majority of them did not feel well informed about the EU in general. Students responding required the European information both for personal reasons and for educational purposes. The majority of respondents required the EU information in order to better understand the EU in general and they faced a number of challenges when accessing it.

Limitations inherent to the method used and the limited number of respondents. Future research should include a wider array of respondents (older citizens, professionals, etc.) so as to obtain a broad a picture as possible of information needs and seeking behavior related to EU.

The study offers valuable insight into the types of EU information needed by citizens (post-secondary students) in an acceding country. The survey results are expected to be of interest to European administration charged with the development of effective communication policies, national authorities in EU candidate and acceding countries, and information professionals in general.

This is the first study of EU information needs and seeking behavior in an acceding country.