Technology Implementation and Productivity Realization: How Required Contributions Constrain Productive Activities

Technologies in sustained operational use can yield different productivity outcomes even when adoption, implementation, and organizational complements are comparable. This study develops a testable relational explanation based on binding shortfalls in contributions required by focal activities. A structured integrative Scopus review and a separate theoretical comparison relate the framework to process theory, complementarity, benefits realization, and the Theory of Constraints (TOC). The analytical unit is a directed relation between an activity and a contribution it needs after implementation. An illustrative application to a published Amazon Web Services (AWS) database-contention benchmark shows how a required contribution and lock waits can be identified independently of economic productivity. In comparable post-implementation conditions, binding is expected to reduce the activity’s output–input ratio relative to an unbound condition, although productivity may still exceed its pre-implementation baseline. Criticality and substitutability condition the expected effect, external control can restrict access, and reconfiguration burden may prolong binding.