Aim To explore the relationships between inclusive leadership, empowering leadership, nurses' perceived psychological empowerment and nurses' innovation capacity. Background Innovation capacity is essential for nurses to adapt to the changing health care environment. However, the current knowledge of nurses' innovation capacity and its' relationships between inclusive leadership, empowering leadership and psychological empowerment, is limited. Methods A cross‐sectional survey using a convenience sample was conducted among 1355 nurses in 10 hospitals in Tianjin, China. The data were analysed by correlation analysis, univariate analysis and PROCESS macro. Results High inclusive leadership, empowering leadership and high psychological empowerment were associated with high innovation capacity. The total effect of inclusive leadership and empowering leadership on innovation capacity through psychological empowerment was significant, with their indirect effects accounting for 69.19% and 61.29% of the total effect, respectively. Conclusions To cultivate nurses' innovation capacity, the development of inclusive leadership, empowering leadership and psychological empowerment is important. Implications for nursing management This research highlights the importance of inclusive leadership and empowering leadership to foster nurses' innovation capacity. Understanding the mediating role of psychological empowerment is expected to help nurse managers develop relevant intervention strategies to cultivate nurses' innovation capacity.