Developing Strategies to Reduce Turnover Intention Driven by Unethical Leadership in Digital Creative Agencies

Abstract : Digital creative agencies have developed as brands collaborators to supervise content management, online targeted advertising, and consumer engagement strategies integrated into the various digital ecosystems in Indonesia. The workers of this industry dominantly by generation specifically Gen Z. This industry has potential to growth, however there is a lack of organizational structure, excessive workload, and inconsistent policies that have encouraged unethical leadership. Many creative workers experience unfair treatment, lack of empathy, manipulative tendencies, irresponsible behaviours, and egocentric, all of these creates burnout and stress and directly affect desire to leave from the company within the industry. The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship among unethical leadership, psychological distress, and turnover intention to understand the depths of employee’s well-being and retention. A quantitative explanatory approach, data were collected from 191 respondents who worked in Indonesia’s digital creative agencies through online questionnaire. The variables measured included nine indicators of unethical leadership, four indicators of psychological distress, and three indicators of turnover intention. Using PLS-SEM, the data were analysed to assess relationship between the constructs. These findings demonstrate that psychological distress is linked unethical leadership to turnover intention in fast-paced work culture. Managerial strategies consist of prioritize ethical leadership development, strengthening accountability systems, and workload restructuring to continuous well-being initiatives. Future research is encouraged to incorporate qualitative exploration to better understand of behaviours and expand model of mediating variables such as organizational justice or psychological safety. This study contributes to provides practical insights for improving workforce sustainability in Indonesia’s digital creative agencies.