This study employed network governance theory to examine the intermediate social processes that lead to actor innovation behaviour in an agricultural innovation platform. Using a sample of 319 randomly selected farmers and key informant interviews, it was established that the direct effect of social mechanisms such as restricted access, collective sanctions, macro cultures and reputation on innovation behaviour was negative (β =-0.050) and insignificant implying that as networks put in place stringent rules and regulations, actors in an innovation network tend to withdraw from platform activities. However, the effect was positive and significant through adaptation (β =0.697), coordination (β =0.121) and safeguard of exchanges (β =0.418). This therefore means that for social mechanisms to influence actor innovation behaviour, they must be accompanied with adaptation and coordination measures and appropriate strategies that safeguard exchanges in a network. Platform leaders should also implement activities that bring all actors together to share relevant information, mobilize resources and synchronize the timing and sequencing of activities as a means of coordination, adaptation and safeguard of exchanges. The study further recommends that to increase the rate of agricultural innovations, members of the networks should continually seek for new processes, markets, inputs and take advantage of new opportunities in their operating environment so as to be adaptive.

Innovation platforms are increasingly being used as a means of operationalizing innovation systems thinking. Agricultural innovation platforms are intended to bring together a number of stakeholders to promote an identified agricultural innovation. This is done through exchange of knowledge and other valuable resources to solve common problems. However, given the relatively new nature of innovation platforms, there is still limited conceptual knowledge on the mechanism within the platforms that leads to the implementation of innovations by different stakeholders who often have conflicting interests. This conceptual paper intended to review and unearth the intermediate processes that influence the actor innovation behavior by using the network governance theory. The review shows that the generation and implementation of ideas in an innovation platform is a process that involves structural, relational and social mechanisms. This review provides a foundation for future empirical studies in innovation platforms and particularly how they influence actor innovation behavior.

Agricultural innovation platforms are increasingly being used as a means of mitigating agricultural value chain challenges through enabling the co-evolution of different elements in the innovation process. Given a number of actors and their different interests, governance dynamics and institutions are likely to play a fundamental role in the attainment of this objective. This study employed network governance theory to establish the influence of structures and relations in innovation platforms influence on actors’ innovation behavior. Using a sample of 319 randomly selected farmers and key informant interviews, it was established that the direct effect of embeddedness on innovation behavior was positive but insignificant (β=0.005, p= 0.953). The effect embeddedness on adaptation, coordination and safeguard of exchanges was positive and significant at (β=0.339, p0.01), (β=0.239, p0.01) and (β=0.262, p0.01) respectively. The role of adaptation in influencing innovation behavior was positive and significant with (β=0.264, p0.05). The study also finds that the indirect role of adaptation and safeguard of exchanges enhances the relationship between embeddedness and actor innovation behavior. The study recommends that to increase agricultural innovations, members of the networks should have adaptive measures through continuous search for new processes, new markets, reliable inputs and take advantage of new opportunities in their operating environment so as to be adaptive to this new work arrangement.