diff --git a/python/pyspark/sql/readwriter.py b/python/pyspark/sql/readwriter.py
index f92face2d0573..18fd7de7ee547 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/sql/readwriter.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/sql/readwriter.py
@@ -788,7 +788,7 @@ def saveAsTable(self, name, format=None, mode=None, partitionBy=None, **options)
 
     @since(1.4)
     def json(self, path, mode=None, compression=None, dateFormat=None, timestampFormat=None,
-             lineSep=None, encoding=None):
+             lineSep=None, encoding=None, ignoreNullFields=None):
         """Saves the content of the :class:`DataFrame` in JSON format
         (`JSON Lines text format or newline-delimited JSON <http://jsonlines.org/>`_) at the
         specified path.
@@ -817,13 +817,15 @@ def json(self, path, mode=None, compression=None, dateFormat=None, timestampForm
                         the default UTF-8 charset will be used.
         :param lineSep: defines the line separator that should be used for writing. If None is
                         set, it uses the default value, ``\\n``.
+        :param ignoreNullFields: Whether to ignore null fields when generating JSON objects.
+                        If None is set, it uses the default value, ``true``.
 
         >>> df.write.json(os.path.join(tempfile.mkdtemp(), 'data'))
         """
         self.mode(mode)
         self._set_opts(
             compression=compression, dateFormat=dateFormat, timestampFormat=timestampFormat,
-            lineSep=lineSep, encoding=encoding)
+            lineSep=lineSep, encoding=encoding, ignoreNullFields=ignoreNullFields)
         self._jwrite.json(path)
 
     @since(1.4)
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/json/JSONOptions.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/json/JSONOptions.scala
index e7bfb77e46c26..4952540f1132d 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/json/JSONOptions.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/json/JSONOptions.scala
@@ -78,8 +78,8 @@ private[sql] class JSONOptions(
   val dropFieldIfAllNull = parameters.get("dropFieldIfAllNull").map(_.toBoolean).getOrElse(false)
 
   // Whether to ignore null fields during json generating
-  val ignoreNullFields = parameters.getOrElse("ignoreNullFields",
-    SQLConf.get.jsonGeneratorIgnoreNullFields).toBoolean
+  val ignoreNullFields = parameters.get("ignoreNullFields").map(_.toBoolean)
+    .getOrElse(SQLConf.get.jsonGeneratorIgnoreNullFields)
 
   // A language tag in IETF BCP 47 format
   val locale: Locale = parameters.get("locale").map(Locale.forLanguageTag).getOrElse(Locale.US)
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/internal/SQLConf.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/internal/SQLConf.scala
index 75db52e334b86..4e1c71c7bfae2 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/internal/SQLConf.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/internal/SQLConf.scala
@@ -1189,9 +1189,11 @@ object SQLConf {
 
   val JSON_GENERATOR_IGNORE_NULL_FIELDS =
     buildConf("spark.sql.jsonGenerator.ignoreNullFields")
-      .doc("If false, JacksonGenerator will generate null for null fields in Struct.")
-      .stringConf
-      .createWithDefault("true")
+      .doc("Whether to ignore null fields when generating JSON objects in JSON data source and " +
+        "JSON functions such as to_json. " +
+        "If false, it generates null for null fields in JSON objects.")
+      .booleanConf
+      .createWithDefault(true)
 
   val FILE_SINK_LOG_DELETION = buildConf("spark.sql.streaming.fileSink.log.deletion")
     .internal()
@@ -2385,7 +2387,7 @@ class SQLConf extends Serializable with Logging {
 
   def sessionLocalTimeZone: String = getConf(SQLConf.SESSION_LOCAL_TIMEZONE)
 
-  def jsonGeneratorIgnoreNullFields: String = getConf(SQLConf.JSON_GENERATOR_IGNORE_NULL_FIELDS)
+  def jsonGeneratorIgnoreNullFields: Boolean = getConf(SQLConf.JSON_GENERATOR_IGNORE_NULL_FIELDS)
 
   def parallelFileListingInStatsComputation: Boolean =
     getConf(SQLConf.PARALLEL_FILE_LISTING_IN_STATS_COMPUTATION)
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameWriter.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameWriter.scala
index 4f88cc6daa331..68127c27a8cc2 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameWriter.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameWriter.scala
@@ -687,6 +687,8 @@ final class DataFrameWriter[T] private[sql](ds: Dataset[T]) {
    * <li>`encoding` (by default it is not set): specifies encoding (charset) of saved json
    * files. If it is not set, the UTF-8 charset will be used. </li>
    * <li>`lineSep` (default `\n`): defines the line separator that should be used for writing.</li>
+   * <li>`ignoreNullFields` (default `true`): Whether to ignore null fields
+   * when generating JSON objects. </li>
    * </ul>
    *
    * @since 1.4.0