diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/__init__.py
index c10d19cd38..03558df986 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/__init__.py
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ class PluginLoader:
 
         if config and not isinstance(config, list):
             config = [config]
-        else:
+        elif not config:
             config = []
 
         self.config = config
diff --git a/test/units/plugins/test_plugins.py b/test/units/plugins/test_plugins.py
index 76a2600f53..e8b48afcf1 100644
--- a/test/units/plugins/test_plugins.py
+++ b/test/units/plugins/test_plugins.py
@@ -75,3 +75,16 @@ class TestErrors(unittest.TestCase):
         #with patch('glob.glob', mock_glob):
         #    pass
 
+    def assertPluginLoaderConfigBecomes(self, arg, expected):
+        pl = PluginLoader('test', '', arg, 'test_plugin')
+        self.assertEqual(pl.config, expected)
+
+    def test_plugin__init_config_list(self):
+        config = ['/one', '/two']
+        self.assertPluginLoaderConfigBecomes(config, config)
+
+    def test_plugin__init_config_str(self):
+        self.assertPluginLoaderConfigBecomes('test', ['test'])
+
+    def test_plugin__init_config_none(self):
+        self.assertPluginLoaderConfigBecomes(None, [])