The purpose of this paper is to explore the evolution of the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in academia. The process of evolution is conceptualised to consist of diffusion and dynamics. Bibliometrics were applied for data collection and visualisation of the evolution of CSR. The findings show increasing complexity and progression in the research on the concept of CSR fuelled not only by the efforts for intellectual refinement in the field but also reflecting the changing priorities of society and businesses. The growth of this field of research both in number of publications (i.e. diffusion) and in terms of different fields in academic usage (i.e. dynamics), is an indicator for growing complexity and widening acceptance of the CSR concept across various academic disciplines in the future. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.