Information sharing intention or sharing avoidance? Impacts of fake news risk perceptions and personal capabilities under the lens of the situational awareness theory

Purpose Fake news has become more popular and even a part of social media life, commonly referred to as the “fake news era”. This study aims to develop a research model depicting the users' cognitive process from fake news risk perceptions, perceived understanding, personal capabilities and possible coping decisions. Design/methodology/approach To obtain the objective, this study integrates the TRIRISK model to decompose the three components of fake news risk perceptions, the situational awareness theory to develop the cognitive psychological flow, and the risk perception attitudes to distinguish the proactive and avoidant sharing behaviors. Data obtained from an online survey of 228 respondents is analyzed by PLS-SEM. Findings The findings validate the tripartite risk perceptions of fake news and discover the impacts of two perceived risk components (deliberative and experiential risks) on perceived understanding. Additionally, proactive behavior (sharing intention for verified information) is affected by perceived understanding (through attitudes toward information verification) and media literacy. Meanwhile, avoidant behavior (sharing avoidance) is driven by fake news knowledge. Originality/value This study combines the situational awareness theory, the TRIRISK decomposition and the risk perception attitude framework to validate a model that explains the effects of fake news risk perception and information behaviors in the context of the fake news era. The findings of this study provide implications for policymakers, social media administrators and individual users to understand and make better decisions to combat fake news. Peer review The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-07-2024-0462.