Scientific goals of the project are: (1) ZC1: to conduct a bibliometric analysis of the literature in the field of MSIM games usage, based on PRISMA methodology; (2) ZC2: to investigate the level of MSIM games usage on Croatian and Slovenian higher education institutions that carry out business economics programmes, and (3) ZC3: to create a model of MSIM games acceptance at the higher education institutions using TOE framework.

Scientific goal ZC1 – Bibliometric analysis of literature in the field of MSIM games usage, aiming to identify the critical factors and measures of successful implementation of games into the educational process is going to be carried out in two steps: the literature collection and the analysis of reviewed papers. First, search platforms Scopus, SCI-EXPANDED and SSCI databases are going to be used, based on the appropriate combination of Boolean keywords to identify suitable papers. Using a detail paper analysis, relevant papers are going to be selected. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) approach is going to be used in the analysis of the found papers. The collected data is going to be analysed using a text mining software, where, in doing so, the software is going to be used for extraction and cluster analysis of phrases and research topics. Wordstat Provalis software is going to be used, which uses factor analysis to extract the major components within the text, thus reducing the text dimensionality.

Scientific goal ZC2 – Research of the level of MSIM games usage is going to be carried out by a survey of Croatian and Slovenian higher education institutions, taking into account the importance of the research validity. Survey research is going to be conducted using the TOE framework (Technology-Organization-Environment), on the basis of which the research questionnaire is going to be formed, but also on the basis of the previous researches which aimed to explore the level of MSIM games usage. Survey research is going to be conducted in two steps: pilot survey and main survey research. Using a pilot survey research, the extent to which respondents understand the survey questions is going to be investigated as well as if some questions need to be added or excluded. In doing so, the emphasis of the pilot research is going to be on the uniqueness of the questions, i.e. their identical understanding by multiple respondents. The target population of this research includes Croatian and Slovenian higher education institutions. Aiming to encourage respondents to participate, all of the respondents are going to be offered with the possibility to receive reports on the project results. Data on respondents are going to be analysed to assess whether the individuals are qualified to respond to the questionnaire. A specialized market research agency is going to be hired to conduct the survey, whereby the survey is going to be carried out using an online survey.

Scientific goal ZC3 – A model of MSIM games acceptance at the higher education institutions using TOE framework is going to be developed using the following methodology. The collected data is going to be analysed in the following approach. In the first step, the data is going to be analysed by means of descriptive statistics methods (absolute and relative frequency analysis and central tendency and dispersion measures) as well as exploratory methods (cluster analysis). In the second step, the Cronbach's indicator and factor analysis method is going to be used to verify the validity of the questionnaire and the consistency of the individual elements of the research constructs. In the third step, the assumptions of using the structural equation method (e.g. normality of the distribution of individual variables) is going to be examined. Using the Lisrel software, a structural equation model is going to be tested, where the validity of the model is going to be verified using indicators such as χ2 index, goodness-of-fit-statistics (GFI), adjusted goodness-of-fit-statistics (AGFI), normed-fit index (NFI), non-normed-fit index (NNFI), comparative-fit index (CFI) and root-mean-square-error (RMSEA).