Abstract
The paper provides an empirical insight into the global conditions in which e-Government projects are developing in EU countries. We were looking for differences in national environments, identifying forces that defy or stimulate e-Government projects, examining dissimilarities between old and new EU member states, and seeking an overall assessment of the Central European countries. Research confirms that e-Government readiness correlates to national competitiveness (0.77) and particularly innovativeness (0.90). On the other hand, there is surprisingly low correlation between e-Government readiness and overall Government efficiency (0.54). Use confidence expressed terms of Composite Trust correlates with e-Government readiness (0.79), but confidence has a low impact on user preference for new services (0.55). Slightly higher is the correlation between national innovativeness and user preference for innovative services (0.62). Central European countries show the same development patterns as the old European Union member states, but the environment in the former is generally less favorable for e-Government development in all the studied aspects. Research also suggests that a more holistic view of e-Government projects would reveal a complex interplay of new Government services, economy, national innovativeness, and social structures.