Corporate Social Responsibility and Overall Performance: A Conceptual Literature Review in Light of Responsible Marketing

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a central issue in academic and managerial debates on governance, sustainability and organizational performance. Although the literature establishes an overall positive association between CSR and performance, it remains fragmented as to the mechanisms explaining this relationship: the relational frameworks of CSR (stakeholders, legitimacy) and the research devoted to responsible communication are rarely articulated, and the mediating role of responsible marketing remains insufficiently theorized, particularly in emerging economies. This is precisely the gap that the present article aims to fill. Based on a narrative and conceptual literature review covering the period 1953-2025 and drawing on the Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar databases according to explicit relevance and scientific quality criteria, the article analyzes the main theoretical approaches to CSR, its evolution toward a strategic logic, its relationship with global performance and the mechanisms that may explain this relationship. The analysis highlights the central role of stakeholder theory, legitimacy theory, the Resource-Based View, institutional theory and dynamic capabilities, while discussing their tensions and complementarities. It shows that responsible marketing can act as a strategic translation mechanism through which CSR commitments are transformed into perceived value, trust, legitimacy and global performance, provided that credibility and consistency are ensured, greenwashing being the main factor weakening this process. The original contribution of the article, which distinguishes it from previous syntheses on the CSR-performance link, lies in an integrative conceptual model positioning responsible marketing as a mediating variable, together with six operationalized research propositions and explicit boundary conditions, applicable to the Moroccan context and particularly to companies awarded the CGEM CSR Label.

Classification JEL: M14; M31; Q56

Paper type: Theoretical Research.