Most microbial communities change with time in response to changes and/or perturbations in environmental conditions. Temporal variations in interspecies metabolic interactions within these communities can significantly affect their structure and function. Here, we introduce d-OptCom, an extension of the OptCom procedure, for the dynamic metabolic modeling of microbial communities. It enables capturing the temporal dynamics of biomass concentration of the community members and extracellular concentration of the shared metabolites, while integrating species- and community-level fitness functions. The applicability of d-OptCom was demonstrated by modeling the dynamic co-growth of auxotrophic mutant pairs of E. coli and by computationally assessing the dynamics and composition of a uranium-reducing community comprised of Geobacter sulfurreducens, Rhodoferax ferrireducens, and Shewanella oneidensis. d-OptCom was also employed to examine the impact of lactate vs acetate addition on the relative abundance of uranium-reducing species. These studies highlight the importance of simultaneously accounting for both species- and community-level fitness functions when modeling microbial communities, and demonstrate that the incorporation of uptake kinetic information can substantially improve the prediction of interspecies flux trafficking. Overall, this study paves the way for the dynamic multi-level and multi-objective analysis of microbial ecosystems.

PurposeThis exploratory study aims to examine the effects of leadership on organizational climate, employee psychological capital, commitment, and wellbeing in a religious/church‐based non‐profit organization.Design/methodology/approachLeadership effects are investigated using established scales including the transformational leadership scale, (TLS), organizational climate questionnaire (OCQ), positive and negative affect scale (PANAS), psychological capital (PsyCap), and organizational commitment. It is a context‐based study that considers a unique organizational culture that comprises social, political, economic, technological, personnel, and personal facets. The survey was administered across a large religious/church‐based non‐profit organization.FindingsThe findings show strong positive relationships between employee ratings of their immediate supervisor's transformational leadership and employee ratings of organizational climate, wellbeing, employee commitment and psychological capital. Additional analyses which explored the impact of demographic variables revealed older employees recorded significantly higher scores on psychological capital than younger employees. These findings inform organizational sustainability where the principles of socially responsible management practices form the heart of responsible stewardship.Research limitations/implicationsRisks of method variance or response biases are likely as all data are drawn from employee surveys, and some selection bias as respondents could not be directly compared with non‐respondents.Originality/valueThis study makes a significant contribution to the non‐profit literature by providing further evidence of the impact of leadership on organizational climate, with the added dimensions of psychological capital, employee wellbeing, and commitment adding to the knowledge of these relationships.

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We examine the relationships among leadership, organizational climate, and workplace innovation in a nonprofit organization. We used established scales including the Transformational Leadership Scale, Organizational Climate Questionnaire, and Workplace Innovation Scale, and then descriptive statistics, regression models, and regression‐based path analysis to fulfill the objectives of the study. The survey was administered to full‐time and part‐time employees in a religious‐based nonprofit organization in Australia. A major finding is that leadership directly promotes workplace innovation and can foster a healthy climate, while the partial effect of organizational climate on workplace innovation, holding leadership constant, was insignificant. Certain characteristics of transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and organizational climate were predictive of workplace innovation as defined. The benefit of this study resides in its potential to look further into predictive leadership characteristics that would assist with recruitment processes in nonprofit organizations.

PurposeThe purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the impact of leadership on workgroup climate and performance in a religious/church‐based non‐profit organization.Design/methodology/approachThe impact of leadership is investigated using a questionnaire comprised of established scales such as the transformational leadership scales (TLS), team climate inventory questionnaire (TCI), team effectiveness, workgroup cohesion, and interdependence scales. This is a context based study that considers the unique culture comprised of social, political, economic, technologic, personnel, and personal concerns. Descriptive, correlation, hierarchical regression, and SPSS macro developed by Preacher and Hayes were used as statistical techniques to assess the indirect effects (Sobel Tests) of variables.FindingsTransformational leadership was identified as a key variable for the functioning of workgroup performance whilst transactional leadership was identified as a key influencing factor of workgroup climate. In addition, the study found a significant and positive large effect of workgroup climate on workgroup performance whilst both transformational and transactional leadership did not influence workgroup performance through workgroup climate. This finding provides areas in need of further research.Research limitations/implicationsThere is likely to be posing risks of method variance or response biases as all data were drawn from employee surveys. There is also likely to be selection bias as the authors could not directly compare respondents with non‐respondents. The fact that there may be operational differences in other as well as smaller organizations, based on the limited size and the ability to allocate job functions, could limit the generalization of this result to other organizations.Originality/valueThis study makes a significant contribution to both scholarly theory and workplace practice in the non‐profit sector as the findings indicated that the influence of workgroup climate on workgroup performance provided an enabling context for the delivery of leadership in a religious/church‐based non‐profit organization.

This exploratory study investigates the impacts of sustainable procurement (SP) practices on organizational performance by using the established scales of SP practices and organizational performances, taking Saudi Arabia as a case country. Data used in the study was collected through a questionnaire survey from procurement directors and managers. Regression and multivariate-based path analysis was performed to assess the impacts of SP practices. From the preliminary results, a significant association between combined SP practices and organizations' financial performance was found. A mediational analysis was conducted to discover the direct and indirect effects of SP practices on financial performance. There was no evidence of a significant direct impact of the summary measures of SP practices on financial performance, while the indirect impact of SP practices via organizational nonfinancial performance on financial performance was found to be statistically significant. This study contributes to SP practice literature by developing a conceptual model for the outcomes of SP practices and establishing statistically significant relationships between SP practices, organizational financial performance, and mediating factors.

The present study investigates the effect of perceived social support (PSS) and perceived religious endorsement (PRE) on career commitment (CC) of Saudi nurses. The investigation also extends to the moderating role of different demographic and organizational factors in the extent of PSS, and career commitment these nurses report. Data required for meeting these study objectives were collected from male and female Saudi nurses through a structured questionnaire. Multiple regressions using Partial Least Squares based Structural Equation Model, Smart-PLS version 3.0, and independent sample t-test using SPSS version 22.0, were used to analyze data. The study findings reveal that both perceived social support and perceived religious endorsement are important antecedents of career commitment of Saudi nurses. However, private-sector nurses are found to exhibit a significantly higher level of career commitment compared to their public-sector counterparts. Nurses with greater educational attainment perceive higher level of social support and express greater career commitment than their less educated peers. These findings suggest that nursing as a profession should be more openly discussed in both secular and religious contexts, to ensure an adequate level of respect and compassion on behalf of the public. In particular, endorsement from the individual nurses’ social networks is vital in maintaining their wellbeing and career commitment. Given the religious influence in all aspects of life in the Saudi society, the current practice of gender-based segregation in Saudi hospitals and clinics seems to be meaningful for sustaining the career commitment of the nurses.