reference group
noun [ C ]
ukus MARKETING
a group of people that influences the decisions and opinions of a person or group:
Whether a person felt rich or poor compared to their reference group was also a way of predicting spending behaviour.
a group that advises a company or an organization on a particular subject:
a consumer reference group
The Government intended to form an industry reference group to provide expert advice.
a group to which a person or another group is compared when you are studying the effects of something:
They studied the difference between the industry's growth in the country as a whole, and the same industry's growth in the appropriate reference group.
Children of households classified as having high or intermediate income were used as the reference group.