Previous research suggests that teachers' adoption of inquiry-based teaching is influenced by school culture's openness to creative solutions, with teachers' self-efficacy in inquiry-based teaching acting as a mediator. However, considering the potential impact of local educational and socio-cultural context on teachers' behavior, findings from one country may not readily generalize to another. For example, in regions with limited exposure and resources for inquiry-based teaching, self-efficacy may play a more prominent mediating role. Therefore, examining the comparative relationship between school culture's openness to creative solutions and teaching practices in Asian and European countries is worthwhile. This multinational study employed data from 23 Asian and European countries to scrutinize the connection between school culture's openness to creative solutions and inquiry-based teaching, with teachers' self-efficacy in inquiry-based teaching as the mediating factor. The results extended the findings of a previous single-country investigation and provided evidence supporting an indirect effect of school culture's openness to creative solutions on inquiry-based teaching as mediated by teacher self-efficacy across all 23 countries. Furthermore, it revealed stronger effects in Asian countries compared to their European counterparts.