Effect of Teamwork on Employee Performance in High-Tech Engineering SMEs of Pakistan: A Moderating Role of Supervisor Support

Abstract

Measuring employee performance of high-tech engineering small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of a developing country is meagre in the literature of organizational studies. Therefore, this paper analyzes a) the effect of teamwork on employee performance; and b) how supervisor support moderates the relationship between teamwork and employee performance. Using a cross-sectional survey in a non-contrived field-study setting, a useable sample of 273 responses is drawn from different high-tech engineering SMEs of Karachi (Pakistan). Common method variance bias is tested using Harman single factor and common latent factor methods. The measurement model demonstrates good internal consistency reliability, convergent and discriminant validity. Hypotheses are tested using variance-based partial least square structural equation modeling technique. PLS predict algorithm suggests high out-of-the sample predictive validity of the structural model. The results show that teamwork has a significant effect on employee performance and supervisor support moderates the positive relationship between teamwork and employee performance such that an increase in supervisor support strengthens the positive relationship between teamwork and employee performance. The findings suggest that the management of SMEs should institutionalize such working practices which could reinforce the culture of teamwork for the managerial employees. Moreover, it is also essential for the management to emphasize more on providing meaningful supervisor support to all managerial employees because it would certainly strengthen the relationship between teamwork and employee performance. This study extends generalizability of the positive relationship between teamwork and employee performance to the high-tech engineering SMEs of Pakistan. Limitations and directions for future studies are also discussed.