["Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, Volume 33, Issue 4, Page 5321-5346, July 2026. ", "\nABSTRACT\nCorporate social responsibility (CSR) has undergone continuous expansion across industries, yet its intellectual evolution and cross‐sectoral linkages remain insufficiently understood. This study provides a comprehensive, data‐driven assessment of CSR's developmental trajectories by analyzing 3314 Web of Science articles using key‐route main path analysis, cluster analysis, keyword mapping, and growth‐curve modeling. Results reveal four historically dominant industry pathways: mining, aviation, tourism, and hospitality, alongside emerging clusters in construction, green supply chains, public health, and climate‐related financial risk. Main path analysis demonstrates that CSR knowledge initially consolidated around sustainability reporting and stakeholder governance in extractive industries before diffusing toward service‐oriented sectors emphasizing consumer perception, organizational culture, and ESG‐driven performance. Cluster analysis further identifies six major thematic communities and highlights their structural interconnections, indicating that CSR develops as an integrated, multi‐sectoral knowledge system driven by institutional pressures and diffusion carriers, as evidenced by the cross‐cluster citation linkages and the main‐path transition from legitimacy‐sensitive extractive industries to market‐mediated service sectors. This study advances CSR scholarship by systematically mapping its intellectual architecture, revealing cross‐industry diffusion patterns, and identifying emerging thematic frontiers. The findings provide theoretical implications for understanding CSR as an evolving institutional logic and managerial implications for firms seeking to align CSR strategies with sector‐specific sustainability pressures and stakeholder expectations.\n"]