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• Collaborative networks' role in boosting sustainability is conceptualized and investigated at the country-level. • A configurational analysis of digital infrastructures and socio-cultural factors enhancing the sustainability competitiveness of countries is proposed. • High level of social-cultural factors fostering collaboration and high level of digital infrastructure are associated with a high level of sustainable competitiveness at the country-level. • Even in the absence of a high level of socio-cultural factors enhancing collaboration, the presence of digital infrastructures is sufficient to lead to high sustainable competitiveness. This paper aims to shed light on collaborative networks' role in boosting sustainability at the country level, both in terms of digital infrastructures and cultural factors supporting collaboration. Using three different country-level databases, it investigates how different combinations of cultural factors supporting collaboration and digital infrastructure lead to sustainability performance. Longitudinal data on 16 European countries are analyzed employing fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fs-QCA). The findings suggest that in the presence of high levels of digital and cultural factors that enable collaborative networks, countries also are characterized by high sustainability performance. Furthermore, even in the absence of high levels of cultural factors supporting collaboration, digital infrastructures are sufficient for enhancing sustainability performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]