["Business Ethics, the Environment &Responsibility, EarlyView. ", "\nABSTRACT\nA common assumption is that firms become more socially responsible over time. Indeed, numerous conceptual papers focus on the issue of describing the CSR states that firms advance through. Yet, related empirical research remains limited and the assumption of steady progression across CSR states remains untested. The authors draw on path creation theory to examine whether firms follow the upward trajectories implied by prior conceptual frameworks by analyzing a longitudinal dataset of 42,634 firm‐year observations to identify firm CSR states, measure state membership likelihood and the probability of movement between the states and determine the drivers of both state membership and state advancement. The authors also investigate the states, drivers, and transition probabilities between corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR) states, an area that has received little conceptual or empirical study. This study finds some empirical support for prior conceptual frameworks; however, transitions between states occur infrequently. Importantly, we find that firms are more likely to regress than advance across both CSR and CSiR states, directly challenging the assumption of monotonic progression, suggesting that firm CSR and CSiR evolution are better characterized by persistence and path‐dependent dynamics rather than steady upward movement. Common factors that define CSR and CSiR state membership and movement between states include customer emphasis, industry characteristics, environmental turbulence, firm resources, and evolving expectations and regulations represented by year. However, the largest coefficients in determining CSR and CSiR state movement are the firm's current CSR or CSiR state.\n"]