diff --git a/cli/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/cli/CliDriver.java b/cli/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/cli/CliDriver.java
index 423939226a30..a539d7dfd8db 100644
--- a/cli/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/cli/CliDriver.java
+++ b/cli/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/cli/CliDriver.java
@@ -333,9 +333,14 @@ private void printHeader(Driver qp, PrintStream out) {
           && fieldSchemas != null) {
       // Print the column names
       boolean first_col = true;
+      String serializationFormat = HiveConf.getVar(conf, HiveConf.ConfVars.HIVE_LISTSINK_SERIALIZATION_FORMAT);
       for (FieldSchema fs : fieldSchemas) {
         if (!first_col) {
-          out.print('\t');
+          if (!StringUtils.isEmpty(serializationFormat)) {
+            out.print((char)Integer.parseInt(serializationFormat));
+          } else {
+            out.print('\t');
+          }
         }
         out.print(fs.getName());
         first_col = false;
diff --git a/common/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/conf/HiveConf.java b/common/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/conf/HiveConf.java
index e052d898699f..980930d2d7dd 100644
--- a/common/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/conf/HiveConf.java
+++ b/common/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/conf/HiveConf.java
@@ -767,6 +767,8 @@ public static enum ConfVars {
     HIVESERVER_KERBEROS_KEYTAB_FILE("hive.hiveserver.kerberos.keytab.file", ""),
     HIVESERVER_KERBEROS_PRINCIPAL("hive.hiveserver.kerberos.principal", ""),
     HIVESERVER_USE_THRIFT_SASL("hive.hiveserver.sasl.enabled", false),
+
+    HIVE_LISTSINK_SERIALIZATION_FORMAT("hive.listsink.serialization.format", ""),
     ;
 
     public final String varname;
diff --git a/ql/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/ql/exec/ListSinkOperator.java b/ql/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/ql/exec/ListSinkOperator.java
index 0174bcf57a75..6489fece96af 100644
--- a/ql/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/ql/exec/ListSinkOperator.java
+++ b/ql/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/ql/exec/ListSinkOperator.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Properties;
 
+import org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hive.common.JavaUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hive.conf.HiveConf;
@@ -65,7 +66,12 @@ private SerDe initializeSerde(Configuration conf) throws Exception {
 
     // this is the default serialization format
     if (serde instanceof DelimitedJSONSerDe) {
-      serdeProp.put(serdeConstants.SERIALIZATION_FORMAT, "" + Utilities.tabCode);
+      String serializationFormat = getConfiguration().get(HiveConf.ConfVars.HIVE_LISTSINK_SERIALIZATION_FORMAT.varname);
+      if (!StringUtils.isEmpty(serializationFormat)) {
+          serdeProp.put(serdeConstants.SERIALIZATION_FORMAT, "" + Integer.parseInt(serializationFormat));
+      } else {
+          serdeProp.put(serdeConstants.SERIALIZATION_FORMAT, "" + Utilities.tabCode);
+      }
       serdeProp.put(serdeConstants.SERIALIZATION_NULL_FORMAT, getConf().getSerializationNullFormat());
     }
     serde.initialize(conf, serdeProp);