The Effect of Reading Theatre of the Absurd on Improving Listening Skills: A Training Intervention

Our aim in this study was to make an intervention in the target group in order to improve interpersonal relationship skills via listening. To do that a pseudo-experimental plan was used in two control and experiment groups of nine. After the pretest, reading Theatre of the Absurd pieces in collective bibliotherapy sessions, 9 salespeople in the experiment group received the necessary instructions. Four weeks after the reading sessions, the control and experiment groups were tested again. Data analysis was performed by one-way ANCOVA. Also, to strengthen the findings related to the first stage of the study, the customers’ perspectives/attitudes were analyzed twice both before and after the instructing. The results suggested that reading absurd theater pieces impacts listening skills in salespeople and that impact is reflected not only in their attitude (self-assessment) but also in their behavior (assessing customer).