Abstract:     Digital transformation is the best way for modern enterprises to fulfil industrial upgrading and innovation. Enterprises′ digital transformation has put forward new requirements on the internal capabilities and external environment, and traditional enterprises are generally immersed in the anxiety of ‘digital capability’ acquisition.  Based on the organizational imprinting theory, this study extends the imprinting rebound effect of organizational imprinting. Taking digital era as emerging market enterprises′ imprinting rebound background and focusing on the Chinese context. This research explores the organizational characteristics of imprinting rebound effects and process mechanisms that facilitate the acquisition of digital capabilities. In this research, organizational learning and organizational unlearning are two endogenous characteristics of imprinting rebound effect, and organizational resilience is the process mechanism between of acquiring digital capabilities. Furthermore, this research introduces firm network′s digital atmosphere as exogenous context to influence firms′ digital capability. 
    In order to follow the logic of imprinting rebound effect, the study on 259 Chinese enterprises which are subordinated to inferior industries as samples.  The empirical results showed as follows. Firstly, organizational learning has positive impact on organizational resilience and digital capability. Secondly, organizational unlearning has positive impact on organizational resilience and digital capability. Thirdly, result proves there has positive relationship between organizational resilience and digital capabilities. Thus, it indicated that organizational resilience plays partially mediating effect between organizational learning and digital capability and also between organizational unlearning and digital capability. Fourthly, firm network′s digital atmosphere positively moderates the relationship between organizational learning and organizational resilience, and between organizational unlearning and organizational resilience. Moreover, the research has taken response surface analysis to further explore the relationship among organizational learning, unlearning and digital capability. Results show that organizational unlearning is more important than organizational learning. 
    The research also brings out some theoretical implications. Firstly, focusing on the Chinese context, research extends the organizational imprinting theory through existing Chinese management phenomenon. In other words, firms′ external environment of the founding phase not only exerts imprinting adapting effect which can assist firm to deepen sensitive period′s imprints, but also imposes imprinting rebounding effect which can facilitate firm to weaken the founding phase′s imprints. Thus, imprinting rebound effect is the opposite of imprinting adapting effect, and rebound effect often appears in the context of emerging economies and provides a perspective to explain emerging market firms′ development path. Secondly, this research also responds the existing research of other scholars to conclude firm′s specific characteristics to weaken firm′s sensitive period′s imprints. Therefore, this research verified Chinese firms which are established in the environment technology backward, and can counterattack in the digital era through the imprinting rebound effect.  
    The practical contribution indicates that emerging economies especially Chinese firms are not supported by abundant external resources in their founding period, and there is a huge technology gap between advanced nations′ firms and emerging economies firms. Chinese firms can rebound in the digital era by learning and unlearning which are endogenous characteristics and digital atmosphere as exogenous driving force in the subsequent development. This is a feasible path to get rid of the deep imprints given by founding environment, and carry out continuous technology iteration in the subsequent rebound process. Therefore, Chinese firms can shorten the technological gap with advanced economies and assist China to become innovative country in 2035. 
   However, this study only selected the enterprises in some regions of China as samples. The research conclusion can be applied to other Chinese regions need to be further verified by collecting data from firms in other provinces. In addition, future studies can further explore how enterprises′ behaviors are shaped when these two distinct influences affect simultaneously. Thus, the explanatory power of imprinting theory can be improved.

Key words:  imprinting rebound effect, digital capability, organizational unlearning, organizational resilience, firm network′s digital atmosphere