With the increase and prominence of corporate social responsibility (CSR), it is important to understand the interaction between CSR and human resource management (HRM), drawing on multiple institutional logics that shape such interaction in organizations. Drawing on a qualitative study, we reveal context‐sensitive nature of the CSR‐HRM relationship by demonstrating all field‐level forces and peculiarities of meso‐level influences. We have identified a dual nature in this relationship. This duality is implicated in unintended and intended organizational outcomes, such as exploitation of workforce and democratizing CSR engagements, respectively. We offer multiple contributions to knowledge and practice. By exploring dual nature of the CSR‐HRM relationship, we demonstrate multiple roles that the HR function plays in organizations, such as mediating role, regulating and governance role and legitimizing role. We recommend that organizations might better approach CSR from an employee engagement perspective and posit that employees' perceptions of CSR authenticity and of local needs will transform the dynamics of the CSR‐HRM relationship and organizational commitments.

In this study, a systematic review of the literature on CSR-employee intersection, with a particular focus on perceived CSR from 2000 onwards, is provided. What is known about individual level antecedents of CSR perceptions, consequences for employees, with underlying mechanisms and contingencies, as well as theoretical orientations are consolidated in an integrated framework. New areas of investigation, where evidence remain inconclusive, are documented. These areas for research include the role of national/cultural context as contingencies in understanding perceived CSR, adaption of theories from diverse disciplines such sociology, in particularly, in linking micro-macro foundations of CSR, creative and pro-active behaviours of employees that are shaped by perceived CSR, with underlying mechanisms, as well as individual level antecedents of perceived CSR, among others. This review study contributes to the micro-foundations of CSR research through providing comprehensive and integrated picture on dynamics of CSR-employee research and concrete suggestions for future studies.