The concept of imprinting has been widely studied across multiple fields, including organizational ecology, institutional theory, network analysis, and career research. This article provides a critical review of the diverse literature on imprinting and aims to develop a multilevel theory of imprinting. The authors define imprinting as a process during which a focal entity develops characteristics that reflect prominent features of its environment, and these characteristics persist despite subsequent environmental changes. They identify economic, technological, institutional, and individual influences that lead to imprints at different levels of analysis, including organizational collectives, single organizations, organizational building blocks, and individuals. The authors argue that imprinting is distinct from other concepts such as path dependence and cohort effects. They propose a framework to integrate the fragmented literature on imprinting at different levels of analysis. This framework highlights the mechanisms that underlie the creation of imprints by different environmental conditions at different levels and finds intriguing parallels across distinct streams of research. The authors also discuss the dynamics of imprinting, emphasizing that sensitive periods can occur at multiple stages in an entity's life. They highlight the possibility that some imprints may fade while others persist or become even more influential over time. The tensions between imprint decay, persistence, and amplification represent a key area for future research. The authors also discuss the indirect yet far-reaching implications of imprinting. They argue that the distinction between the historical origin and the current usefulness of an imprint is a critical conceptual tool in understanding the consequences of imprinting. This distinction allows scholars to recognize that, even though imprints tend to persist, their effects and external manifestations vary over time, reflecting an interplay of the past and the present. The authors propose to view entities as carriers of multiple intersecting imprints, a perspective that should help reveal the complex effects of imprinting processes. They present a general theoretical model that highlights several key mechanisms, consequences, and contingencies of imprinting across levels of analysis. They conclude with a discussion of how a historical perspective can illuminate important organizational phenomena and strengthen the field of organization studies more generally.The concept of imprinting has been widely studied across multiple fields, including organizational ecology, institutional theory, network analysis, and career research. This article provides a critical review of the diverse literature on imprinting and aims to develop a multilevel theory of imprinting. The authors define imprinting as a process during which a focal entity develops characteristics that reflect prominent features of its environment, and these characteristics persist despite subsequent environmental changes. They identify economic, technological, institutional, and individual influences that lead to imprints at different levels of analysis, including organizational collectives, single organizations, organizational building blocks, and individuals. The authors argue that imprinting is distinct from other concepts such as path dependence and cohort effects. They propose a framework to integrate the fragmented literature on imprinting at different levels of analysis. This framework highlights the mechanisms that underlie the creation of imprints by different environmental conditions at different levels and finds intriguing parallels across distinct streams of research. The authors also discuss the dynamics of imprinting, emphasizing that sensitive periods can occur at multiple stages in an entity's life. They highlight the possibility that some imprints may fade while others persist or become even more influential over time. The tensions between imprint decay, persistence, and amplification represent a key area for future research. The authors also discuss the indirect yet far-reaching implications of imprinting. They argue that the distinction between the historical origin and the current usefulness of an imprint is a critical conceptual tool in understanding the consequences of imprinting. This distinction allows scholars to recognize that, even though imprints tend to persist, their effects and external manifestations vary over time, reflecting an interplay of the past and the present. The authors propose to view entities as carriers of multiple intersecting imprints, a perspective that should help reveal the complex effects of imprinting processes. They present a general theoretical model that highlights several key mechanisms, consequences, and contingencies of imprinting across levels of analysis. They conclude with a discussion of how a historical perspective can illuminate important organizational phenomena and strengthen the field of organization studies more generally.