Despite the large amount of factual data on senior management’s significant role in achieving corporate social responsibility (CSR), little effort has been devoted to shed light on the CSR decision-making process and the managerial mindsets that drive it. To fill this gap in CSR research, this study explores the CSR decision-making process and senior management mindsets regarding CSR, inductively prompted by the CSR literature and a qualitative study. This study offers a conceptual model of socially responsible decision-making based on the Doctus knowledge-based system. The model is empirically analyzed and verified through semi-structured interviews with CSR experts. Further, an inductive examination of the qualitative data using individual-level analysis revealed three different mindsets of senior management towards CSR: conformist, self-interested, and shareholder satisfaction/profit-driven mindsets.