Relative performance evaluation and pension investment management: A challenge for ESG investing

The fund management industry is the primary investment arm of the pension funds that control a significant portion of global capital market assets. Pension assets are frequently cited as vehicles for the use of “environmental, social and governance” (ESG) factors in investing for broader, extra-financial aims. Yet, compensation practices in the pension investment management industry remain focused on relative performance. This study examines the use of relative performance evaluation (RPE) as a form of compensation and control, including its historical emergence, using a genealogical history that attempts to provide some critique of its current day usage. In doing so, it follows the call by Norman Macintosh to both examine the social embeddedness of accounting, and to engage in reflexive accounting histories. The study argues that continued focus on relative results may pose challenges to incorporating ESG factors, and that further study of the RPE technique is needed, particularly with the increased focus on ESG at the policy level.