Review of strategic and operational mechanisms for integrating corporate social responsibility into management systems to achieve organizational sustainability

This article addresses the problem of fragmented approaches to integrating corporate social responsibility (CSR) into strategic management systems to achieve organizational sustainability goals. The relevance of the study stems from the persistent gap between companies' articulated commitment to adopting the increasingly prevalent ESG policies and their actual managerial practices. The study aims to conduct a comprehensive scientific review to identify, classify, and synthesize specific models and mechanisms for embedding CSR principles into sustainable management processes. Following the PRISMA methodology, a corpus of scholarly publications from 2001 to 2025 was analyzed, with a focus on recent works (2022−2025). As a result, three interrelated clusters of determinants for effective integration were identified and systematized: a portfolio of specific CSR practices requiring matrix alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); a set of internal organizational transformations, including structural changes, corporate culture shift, and innovation management; and external engagement mechanisms, such as shaping the institutional environment and developing strategic reporting systems. The primary scientific novelty of the work lies in the multilevel classification developed for strategic and operational CSR integration mechanisms, structured along two axes, the management level and the mechanism type. Secondly, the nonlinear and mediated nature of CSR's impact on sustainability was substantiated, with the reputational capital and employer branding playing a key transmission role. Thirdly, an integral analytical model was proposed, visualizing the dynamic relationship between external drivers, internal transformations, mediating factors, and ultimate outcomes across the three dimensions of sustainability. The practical significance of the research lies in providing executives and boards of directors with a structured roadmap for building a holistic sustainability management system, as well as in offering regulators evidence-based justification for developing not only normative requirements but also support infrastructure to enhance companies' managerial capacity.