Background <p>Chinese academic diplomacy has opened international educational opportunities in different fields including nursing. Nursing students often experience tremendous challenges during their clinical learning; these challenges are elevated for international students due to limited familiarity with their new environment. Enhancing workplace social capital might be an effective approach to addressing these challenges. However, a comprehensive understanding of international nursing students’ workplace social capital remains unknown. This study aimed to describe the composition of workplace social capital as perceived by international nursing students during their clinical learning in China.</p> Methods <p>A qualitative descriptive design was applied. Participants were international students from 13 countries (<i>n</i> = 30), recruited from an international nursing program in China; all participants had completed 36 weeks of clinical learning in a Chinese teaching hospital. Data were collected through three rounds of focus group discussions and seven follow-up individual interviews between 2022 and 2024. Inductive qualitative content analysis was used for data analysis.</p> Results <p>Two themes were abstracted. The first theme addresses the structural configuration of workplace social capital. The two directions of relational network that contributed to the structural configuration are vertical (linking with mentors, nurse managers and physicians) and horizontal (bridging with Chinese-partners and bonding among international classmates). An obvious hierarchy exists in linking social capital. The second theme represents the cognitive elements in social capital including Trust, Empowerment, Equality and Social cohesion. Trust is the most well-recognized cognitive element. Empowerment and Equality are two distinct characteristics of international nursing students’ workplace social capital.</p> Conclusions <p>International nursing students’ workplace social capital is formed based on multi-directional professional interactions. Hierarchical differences in social capital should be reduced. Transcultural leadership and mentorship training to facilitate the advancement of workplace social capital in an international educational environment in China is encouraged. Our work is a prelude to understanding the concept of international nursing students’ workplace social capital and contributes to the development of intervention strategies for future investigations.</p> Trial registration <p>Our study does not report healthcare interventions on human participants. Trial registration is not necessary according to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)’s clinical trial registration policy.</p>