diff --git a/conga-sling-plugin/src/main/java/io/wcm/devops/conga/plugins/sling/util/JsonOsgiConfigUtil.java b/conga-sling-plugin/src/main/java/io/wcm/devops/conga/plugins/sling/util/JsonOsgiConfigUtil.java
index 3928e58..a8a81fe 100644
--- a/conga-sling-plugin/src/main/java/io/wcm/devops/conga/plugins/sling/util/JsonOsgiConfigUtil.java
+++ b/conga-sling-plugin/src/main/java/io/wcm/devops/conga/plugins/sling/util/JsonOsgiConfigUtil.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Dictionary;
+import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.regex.Matcher;
 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
@@ -37,8 +38,8 @@
 import org.apache.sling.provisioning.model.Section;
 import org.jetbrains.annotations.Nullable;
 
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.type.TypeReference;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.type.MapType;
 
 import io.wcm.devops.conga.plugins.sling.postprocessor.JsonOsgiConfigPostProcessor;
 
@@ -48,9 +49,7 @@
 public final class JsonOsgiConfigUtil {
 
   private static final ObjectMapper OBJECT_MAPPER = new ObjectMapper();
-  private static final TypeReference<Map<String, Object>> MAP_TYPE_REFERENCE = new TypeReference<Map<String, Object>>() {
-    // default implementation
-  };
+  private static final MapType MAP_TYPE = OBJECT_MAPPER.getTypeFactory().constructMapType(Map.class, String.class, Object.class);
 
   private static final Pattern KEY_PATTERN_CONFIGURATIONS = Pattern.compile("^configurations(:(.*))?$");
   private static final Pattern KEY_PATTERN_REPOINIT = Pattern.compile("^repoinit(:(.*))?$");
@@ -68,7 +67,29 @@ private JsonOsgiConfigUtil() {
    */
   static Map<String, Object> readToMap(File file) throws IOException {
     String jsonString = FileUtils.readFileToString(file, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
-    return OBJECT_MAPPER.readValue(jsonString, MAP_TYPE_REFERENCE);
+    Map<String, Object> result = OBJECT_MAPPER.readValue(jsonString, MAP_TYPE);
+    return convertListsToArrays(result);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Jackson converts arrays in JSON to lists. We want to keep them represented as arrays for conversion
+   * to OSGi configuration, so we convert them recursively back to Object[] arrays.
+   */
+  @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+  private static Map<String, Object> convertListsToArrays(Map<String, Object> map) {
+    Map<String, Object> result = new LinkedHashMap<>();
+    for (Map.Entry<String, Object> entry : map.entrySet()) {
+      String key = entry.getKey();
+      Object value = entry.getValue();
+      if (value instanceof Collection) {
+        value = ((Collection)value).toArray();
+      }
+      else if (value instanceof Map) {
+        value = convertListsToArrays((Map<String, Object>)value);
+      }
+      result.put(key, value);
+    }
+    return result;
   }
 
   /**
@@ -108,9 +129,9 @@ private static void processEntry(Feature feature, String key, Object value) thro
     else {
       Matcher repoinitKeyMatcher = KEY_PATTERN_REPOINIT.matcher(key);
       if (repoinitKeyMatcher.matches()) {
-        if (value instanceof Collection) {
+        if (value.getClass().isArray()) {
           String[] runModes = toRunModes(repoinitKeyMatcher.group(RUNMODES_INDEX));
-          processRepoInit(feature, runModes, (Collection<String>)value);
+          processRepoInit(feature, runModes, (Object[])value);
         }
         else {
           throw new IOException("Unexpected data for key " + key + ": " + value.getClass().getName());
@@ -155,7 +176,7 @@ private static void processOsgiConfiguration(Feature feature, String[] runModes,
   /**
    * Convert repoinit statements to Provisioning model additional sections with associated run modes.
    */
-  private static void processRepoInit(Feature feature, String[] runModes, Collection<String> repoinits) {
+  private static void processRepoInit(Feature feature, String[] runModes, Object[] repoinits) {
     Section section = new Section(ProvisioningUtil.REPOINIT_SECTION);
     feature.getAdditionalSections().add(section);
     if (runModes != null) {
diff --git a/conga-sling-plugin/src/test/java/io/wcm/devops/conga/plugins/sling/postprocessor/JsonOsgiConfigPostProcessorTest.java b/conga-sling-plugin/src/test/java/io/wcm/devops/conga/plugins/sling/postprocessor/JsonOsgiConfigPostProcessorTest.java
index 19a1734..089c4af 100644
--- a/conga-sling-plugin/src/test/java/io/wcm/devops/conga/plugins/sling/postprocessor/JsonOsgiConfigPostProcessorTest.java
+++ b/conga-sling-plugin/src/test/java/io/wcm/devops/conga/plugins/sling/postprocessor/JsonOsgiConfigPostProcessorTest.java
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.Dictionary;
-import java.util.List;
 
 import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
 import org.apache.felix.cm.json.io.Configurations;
@@ -72,7 +71,9 @@ void testJsonFile() throws Exception {
     // validate generated configs
     Dictionary<?, ?> config = readConfig("my.pid.cfg.json");
     assertEquals("value1", config.get("stringProperty"));
-    assertEquals(List.of("v1", "v2", "v3"), config.get("stringArrayProperty"));
+    assertArrayEquals(new String[] {
+        "v1", "v2", "v3"
+    }, (String[])config.get("stringArrayProperty"));
     assertEquals(true, config.get("booleanProperty"));
     assertEquals(999999999999L, config.get("longProperty"));
 
diff --git a/conga-sling-plugin/src/test/java/io/wcm/devops/conga/plugins/sling/util/JsonOsgiConfigUtilTest.java b/conga-sling-plugin/src/test/java/io/wcm/devops/conga/plugins/sling/util/JsonOsgiConfigUtilTest.java
index 68ca53b..abc57c8 100644
--- a/conga-sling-plugin/src/test/java/io/wcm/devops/conga/plugins/sling/util/JsonOsgiConfigUtilTest.java
+++ b/conga-sling-plugin/src/test/java/io/wcm/devops/conga/plugins/sling/util/JsonOsgiConfigUtilTest.java
@@ -19,11 +19,11 @@
  */
 package io.wcm.devops.conga.plugins.sling.util;
 
-import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertArrayEquals;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
-import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
@@ -31,9 +31,17 @@
 class JsonOsgiConfigUtilTest {
 
   @Test
+  @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
   void testReadToMap() throws IOException {
     Map<String, Object> content = JsonOsgiConfigUtil.readToMap(new File("src/test/resources/osgi-config-json/sample.osgiconfig.json"));
-    assertEquals(List.of("create service user mode1"), content.get("repoinit:mode1"));
+    assertArrayEquals(new Object[] { "create service user mode1" }, (Object[])content.get("repoinit:mode1"));
+
+    // assert JSON arrays are represented as array in map instead of list
+    Map<String, Object> configurations = (Map<String, Object>)content.get("configurations");
+    Map<String, Object> my_pid = (Map<String, Object>)configurations.get("my.pid");
+    Object stringArrayProperty = my_pid.get("stringArrayProperty");
+    assertTrue(stringArrayProperty.getClass().isArray());
+    assertArrayEquals(new Object[] { "v1", "v2", "v3" }, (Object[])stringArrayProperty);
   }
 
 }