["Business Ethics, the Environment &Responsibility, EarlyView. ", "\nABSTRACT\nThe early‐career institutional experiences of corporate decision‐makers can create enduring imprints that shape cognition and capabilities, yet their impact on corporate environmental responsibility (CER) remains underexplored. Drawing on upper echelons theory and imprinting theory, we examine how Chinese private entrepreneurs' experiences in the state‐led Danwei system influence CER by shaping institutional imprints. Using a unique dataset of 17,252 firm‐year observations from 2008 to 2018, we find that Danwei system experience significantly enhances CER. This effect is strengthened by party organization embeddedness, regional institutional development, and Confucian culture. The study advances understanding of CER from an imprinting perspective and contributes to upper echelons theory by specifying institutional imprinting as a key micro‐foundational mechanism through which executives internalize historical legacies to shape contemporary corporate environmental sustainability.\n"]