Sharpe concludes that the main reason that the lagged-benefit hypothesis explains less of the productivity paradox than the other two hypotheses is that computers are now widely diffused. It is difficult to believe that barriers to their effective use have not largely been overcome. The author notes that an exception to this conclusion may reside in the potential complementarity between investment in IT and organizational change. That is, for IT to pay off there may be other necessary ingredients new organizational structures, new ways of interacting, new ways of managing people. And, while the lagged benefit hypothesis may not hold large validity at the level of the economy as a whole, at the level of an individual firm the contribution of this factor may be great.
Information technology is no panacea for improved productivity.
It appears particularly important to invest a large amount of time and effort in getting the organization to understand where it is going and why. Sharpe concludes his review by pointing to the need for research to further explore the relationship between IT investment, other organizational structures and productivity growth at the firm level. In this respect, he suggests that the proposed Workplace and Employee Survey piloted by Statistics Canada and Human Resources Development Canada will add greatly to our knowledge.