Din sursele pe care le-am accesat, am înţeles (corect, sper) că termenul se referă aproape întotdeauna la o persoană (de obicei un supervisor) care poate oferi anumite informaţii (referinţe) despre un lucrător, student, etc. în cadrul unei instituţii (nu ştiu dacă şi extern). De exemplu, am găsit un formular prin care un angajat îşi poate schimba "persoana de referinţă" din anumite motive.
http://www.hr.uwa.edu.au/__data/page/9531/Change_to_Reportin...

Cred ca acelasi lucru se subintelege si mai jos:
Under §4.4 of the contract, if Stafford terminated his employment for "good reason" or was terminated without cause, he would receive his base salary and a pro-rated bonus. "Good reason" occurred if, in the absence of Stafford's "express written consent," Scientia substantially altered the conditions of his employment, failed to pay him contractually mandated compensation or benefits, or if Stafford no longer had the "title or reporting relationship" referred to in §1.2 of the agreement.
http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202422406033
Every position must report to at least one other position. HRIS keeps track of this organizational chart information through the Reporting Relationship fields. These can be updated through the Establish/Maintain Position workflow to update any changes in the organizational structure. These changes must be approved by the HR Services department before they will reflected in HRIS.
http://hrisguide.unc.edu/spa-perm/HRIS-ReportingRelationship...

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Note added at 33 mins (2010-02-16 21:48:20 GMT)
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Daca mobilitatea nu este parte a unui program comunitar, organizatia de trimitere si organizatia gazda trebuie sa incheie un acord care sa precizeze continutul, obiectivele, durata stagiului, modul de pregatire lingvistica (daca este cazul) si persoanele de referinta desemnate.
http://www.europass-ro.ro/index.php?page=minighid_em