Good Wine Needs Bush: A Multilevel Analysis of National E-Government Performance and Citizen Use across European Countries

Does national e-government performance boost e-service users? This straightforward correlation is usually taken for granted but has not yet been empirically tested. In this paper we examine the effect of national e-government performance on citizen use, using a sampling survey of about 28,000 citizens across 32 European countries. Theoretically better designed and maintained government websites should be used more by the citizens, however, the multilevel model estimate suggests that the supply-demand link is not well supported. We even find that the performance and citizen use of e-information and e-service are negatively correlated, while that of e-participation is insignificant. We discuss the implications of the findings and suggest policy recommendations for increasing the uptake of e-government.