Creative teaching performance plays a crucial role in enhancing educational quality and cultivating innovative talent suited for future societies. Grounded in contingency management theory, this study examines the impact of contingent reward leadership on creative teaching performance and its underlying mechanisms. Data were collected through questionnaires from 640 kindergarten teachers, and the results indicate that contingent reward leadership positively affects creative teaching performance. Perceived organizational support and knowledge-sharing intention mediate the relationship between contingent reward leadership and creative teaching performance. Innovative culture moderates the effect of contingent reward leadership on perceived organizational support; when innovative culture is high, the impact of contingent reward leadership on perceived organizational support is stronger. However, the moderating role of innovative culture in the relationship between contingent reward leadership and knowledge-sharing intention is not significant.