Objective To explore the potential categories of nurses′ perceptions of high-performance work systems and analyze the relationship between these categories and work engagement, so as to provide references for nursing managers developing targeted management strategies to enhance nurses′ work engagement.Methods A convenience sampling method was used to recruit 4 062 nurses from 11 Grade A hospitals in Anhui Province, then they were investigated by using a general information questionnaire, the High-Performance Work System Perception Scale, and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale.Results The participants′ total score of perception of high-performance work systems was （69.68±10.16）, and of work engagement was （46.80±15.57）.Nurses′ perception of high-performance work systems was categorized into three latent types: low perception-unsafe type （12.1%）, moderate perception type （54.5%）, and high perception-development type （33.4%）.Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that, gender, educational background, position, employment type, monthly salary, and the presence of a promotion system in the hospital were major influencing factors of the latent categories of nurses′ perceptions of high-performance work systems （all P＜0.05）.There were significant differences in the total score and three subscale scores of work engagement among the nurses in the three latent types （all P＜0.05）.Conclusion Nurses′ perception of high-performance work systems is at a medium and above level, which has three latent categories, and there are differences in work engagement among nurses in different categories.Nursing ma-nagers should develop targeted management measures based on the characteristics of the different categories of nurses′ perceptions of high-performance work systems to enhance their work engagement.