What Drives <scp>CSR</scp> Performance: Structures, Declarations or Values?

ABSTRACT Sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are increasingly central to strategic management, yet a gap persists between formal commitments and actual practice. The study explores the structural and value‐based predictors of the institutional integration of CSR and sustainability, with a focus on the mediating role of the CSR identity. The analysis is based on survey data from 202 organisations and applies ANOVA, ANCOVA, linear and logistic regression, and mediation analysis. The environmental engagement predicts the sustainability orientation, while the structural factors have only marginal significance. The strategic integration of sustainability goals and organisational social policy emerged as the strongest predictors of CSR performance. The CSR identity significantly mediates the relationship between social policy and strategic sustainability integration and between environmental engagement and CSR performance. The environmental engagement also mediates part of the effect of social policy on CSR performance. CSR performance and institutional sustainability are primarily driven by value orientation and strategic integration, rather than formal declarations or structural characteristics.