diff --git a/hbase-mapreduce/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TableOutputFormat.java b/hbase-mapreduce/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TableOutputFormat.java
index 0a1928b21f3..78be5af1bf4 100644
--- a/hbase-mapreduce/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TableOutputFormat.java
+++ b/hbase-mapreduce/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TableOutputFormat.java
@@ -174,9 +174,9 @@ implements Configurable {
   @Override
   public void checkOutputSpecs(JobContext context) throws IOException,
       InterruptedException {
-    Configuration hConf = context.getConfiguration();
-    if(hConf == null) {
-      hConf = this.conf;
+    Configuration hConf = getConf();
+    if (hConf == null) {
+      hConf = context.getConfiguration();
     }
 
     try (Admin admin = ConnectionFactory.createConnection(hConf).getAdmin()) {