Returnee managers showcase an increasingly prominent role in enhancing the R&D investment of the firm. However, they also encounter maladaptive problems during this process. Many scholars have delved into the role of returnee managers in firm’s decision-making from the perspectives of imprinting theory, but such studies have overlooked the impact of organizational environment and regional culture. In this paper, we explored factors constraining returnee managers in high-innovation countries to promote firm’s innovation within the theoretical framework of imprinting theory. Based on the innovation attributes of overseas countries and regions where returnees study and work, this paper proposed a concept of innovation imprint and explored the situational factors that may constrain the innovation imprints of returnee managers in their firms, namely, the constraints of family governance and the regional cultural environment.From the perspective of imprinting theory and inclusion literature, this paper proposed that returnees from high-innovation countries are endowed with innovation imprints. When returnee managers work in a highly inclusive firm, they will be treated equally and their innovative imprints will better adapt to the environment. Conversely, when returnees are excluded, their innovative imprints will be weakened due to the deprivation of their participation in R&D decision-making. In this paper, the environment experienced by returnees’ imprints was divided into two levels: organizational level and macro level. Hypotheses are proposed as follows. Hypothesis H1: Family control weakens the positive impact of returnee managers′ innovation imprints on firms′ R&D investment. Hypothesis H2a: The positive impact of the innovative imprint of returnee managers on the firm’s R&D investment will be stronger if the firm is located in marine culture. Hypothesis H2b: Family control will have a weaker negative moderating effect on the relationship between innovative imprint of returnee managers and the firm′s R&D investment if the firm is located in marine culture. Hypothesis H3a: The positive impact of the innovative imprint of returnee managers on the firm’s R&D investment will be weaker if the firm is located in clan culture. Hypothesis H3b: The negative moderating effect of family control on the relationship between the innovative imprint of returnee managers and the firm′s R&D investment will be stronger if the firm is located in clan culture. Hypothesis H4a: The positive impact of the innovative imprint of returnee managers on the firm’s R&D investment will be stronger if the firm is located in business gang culture. Hypothesis H4b: The negative moderating effect of family control on the relationship between the innovative imprint of returnee managers and the firm′s R&D investment will be weaker if the firm is located in business gang culture.In this paper, we conduct an analysis based on a sample of Chinese private listed companies from 2008 to 2020. The countries and duration of stay abroad of returnee managers were manually collected. Through the OLS model, the relationship between the proportion of returnee managers and R&D investment in high-innovation countries was investigated and the moderating impact of family control and regional culture such as marine culture, clan culture, and business gang culture was also examined, as well as the three-way interaction effect of regional culture and family control.The regression results showed that, first, family control has significantly weakened the innovation imprint of returnee managers, thereby inhibiting the enhancement of R&D investment. Second, regional marine culture constrained the role of returnee managers′ innovation imprints in enhancing firms′ R&D investment. Marine culture significantly strengthened the innovative imprints, which in fbd贺小刚等: 海归高管的创新印记催生企业研发投入?家族治理与区域文化的调节效应turn increased firms′ R&D investment on the one hand, and weakened the negative effect of the innovation imprint of returnee managers on firms′ R&D investment under family control on the other. Third, the innovative imprints were also significantly constrained by regional clan culture. Although clan culture has no significant direct moderating effect on the innovative imprints of returnee managers, family control has a stronger negative moderating effect on the innovative imprints of returnee managers in the regions with stronger clan culture. Fourth, business gang culture has a significant positive effect on the innovative imprint of returnee managers, but has no significant effect on the negative moderating effect of family control.In heterogeneity analysis, this paper further investigated whether the relationship between the innovative imprint of returnee managers and firms′ R&D investment varies because of technology market activities and the duration of returnee managers′ stay abroad. Such negative moderating effect of family control is found more significant when firms are located in active technology market regions or when returnee managers stay longer in high-innovation countries. Meanwhile, robustness tests such as PSM, changing variable measures, and removing Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan experiences indicated robust results of main findings in this paper.In terms of theoretical contribution, this paper expanded the theoretical perspective of individual imprinting from a multi-dimensional perspective, further enriching the research of imprinting dynamics, risk-taking behaviors of family firms and research in the Chinese context. Moreover, this paper also has important guiding significance in terms of managerial practice for fully utilizing and leveraging the role of returnee talents in the construction of innovation capacity in local firms.