Industry Survey-Based Structural Equation Modelling of Digital Visibility and Sustainability in Cold Chain Logistics: The Mediating Roles of Information Sharing and Horizontal Collaboration

Designing sustainable and resilient cold chain logistics requires data-driven integration of digital technologies and coordination mechanisms. Despite rapid investment in digital visibility technologies, empirical evidence remains limited on how such tools translate into sustainability gains in time-dependent and temperature-sensitive food logistics. Prior research has largely examined real-time visibility (RTV), data-sharing (DSH), and horizontal collaboration (HC) in isolation or through pairwise relationships, leaving the underlying mechanisms that connect digitalisation to sustainability performance (SP) poorly understood, particularly in the meat cold supply chain logistics (CSCL). Addressing this gap, this study develops and empirically tests an integrated mechanism-based model that positions RTV as a technological enabler, DSH as an informational mechanism, and HC as a collaborative capability through which RTV use is associated with SP. Using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) on survey data from 178 professionals in the Australian meat cold supply chain, we examine the relationships among RTV use, DSH, HC, and SP as reported by industry practitioners. While RTV use shows a positive association with SP in a direct-path model, this relationship becomes non-significant when DSH and HC are included. Instead, RTV use is indirectly associated with SP through DSH and HC. Specifically, greater RTV use is associated with stronger DSH practices, which are, in turn, associated with increased HC and improved SP. DSH emerges as the key mechanism linking digital visibility with coordinated operational responses, while HC is associated with sustainability gains derived from shared information. Stage-specific analyses indicate that these relationships vary across cold chain operations, underscoring the importance of strategic timing. The findings suggest that the sustainability benefits associated with RTV depend not only on technology adoption but also on complementary data-sharing and collaborative capabilities. As the results are based on industry practitioners' perceptions collected through a cross-sectional survey, they should be interpreted as evidence supporting the proposed theoretical relationships rather than as definitive causal effects.