diff --git a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-aws/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/s3a/s3guard/DynamoDBMetadataStore.java b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-aws/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/s3a/s3guard/DynamoDBMetadataStore.java
index 5716cfa062..f34afb5e9b 100644
--- a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-aws/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/s3a/s3guard/DynamoDBMetadataStore.java
+++ b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-aws/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/s3a/s3guard/DynamoDBMetadataStore.java
@@ -630,7 +630,7 @@ public DirListingMetadata listChildren(final Path path) throws IOException {
           LOG.trace("Listing table {} in region {} for {} returning {}",
               tableName, region, path, metas);
 
-          return (metas.isEmpty() && dirPathMeta == null)
+          return (metas.isEmpty() || dirPathMeta == null)
               ? null
               : new DirListingMetadata(path, metas, isAuthoritative,
               dirPathMeta.getLastUpdated());