This paper presents experimental and numerical investigations of the hysteretic performance of the corrugated steel plate shear wall (CSPSW) subjected to lateral loads, and proposes an effective hysteretic model for the CSPSW with interactive buckling or yielding of the corrugated steel plate (CSP). First, a cyclic loading test for a CSPSW with interactive buckling was conducted. The CSPSW test specimen exhibited high strength, lateral stiffness, and good energy dissipation capacity. In accordance with the cyclic test, a numerical model was developed to simulate the hysteretic behaviour of the CSPSW. Subsequently, extensive parametric analyses were performed to investigate the effects of the concerned geometry parameters on the hysteretic performance of CSPSWs, such as the height–thickness ratio, aspect ratio, corrugation angle, horizontal subpanel width and surrounding frame stiffness. The available limits of the height–thickness ratio, aspect ratio and surrounding column stiffness for CSPSWs were suggested. Based on the experimental and numerical results of the hysteretic curves and theoretical derivations, a hysteretic model for a CSPSW with interactive buckling or yielding of the CSP was proposed and verified by tests and finite element models. The results showed that the proposed hysteretic theoretical model can reproduce the hysteretic performance of CSPSWs with reasonable accuracy.