diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/database/AbstractCursorItemReader.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/database/AbstractCursorItemReader.java
index 17f77b060a..17f5ac9a98 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/database/AbstractCursorItemReader.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/database/AbstractCursorItemReader.java
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@
  * @author Peter Zozom
  * @author Robert Kasanicky
  * @author Thomas Risberg
+ * @author Michael Minella
  */
 public abstract class AbstractCursorItemReader<T> extends AbstractItemCountingItemStreamItemReader<T>
 implements InitializingBean {
@@ -134,9 +135,9 @@ public abstract class AbstractCursorItemReader<T> extends AbstractItemCountingIt
 
 	private boolean useSharedExtendedConnection = false;
 
-	private Boolean connectionAutoCommit;
+	private boolean connectionAutoCommit;
 
-	private Boolean initialConnectionAutoCommit;
+	private boolean initialConnectionAutoCommit;
 
 	public AbstractCursorItemReader() {
 		super();
@@ -364,20 +365,12 @@ public boolean isUseSharedExtendedConnection() {
 	 * Connection / Datasource default configuration.
 	 *
 	 * @param autoCommit value used for {@link Connection#setAutoCommit(boolean)}.
+	 * @since 4.0
 	 */
 	public void setConnectionAutoCommit(boolean autoCommit) {
 		this.connectionAutoCommit = autoCommit;
 	}
 
-	/**
-	 * Return whether "autoCommit" should be overridden for the connection used by the cursor.
-	 *
-	 * @return the "autoCommit" value, or {@code null} if none to be applied.
-	 */
-	public Boolean getConnectionAutoCommit() {
-		return this.connectionAutoCommit;
-	}
-
 	public abstract String getSql();
 
 	/**
@@ -402,9 +395,9 @@ protected void doClose() throws Exception {
 		JdbcUtils.closeResultSet(this.rs);
 		rs = null;
 		cleanupOnClose();
-		if (this.initialConnectionAutoCommit != null) {
-			this.con.setAutoCommit(initialConnectionAutoCommit);
-		}
+
+		this.con.setAutoCommit(initialConnectionAutoCommit);
+
 		if (useSharedExtendedConnection && dataSource instanceof ExtendedConnectionDataSourceProxy) {
 			((ExtendedConnectionDataSourceProxy)dataSource).stopCloseSuppression(this.con);
 			if (!TransactionSynchronizationManager.isActualTransactionActive()) {
@@ -449,8 +442,10 @@ protected void initializeConnection() {
 			else {
 				this.con = dataSource.getConnection();
 			}
-			if (this.connectionAutoCommit != null && this.con.getAutoCommit() != this.connectionAutoCommit) {
-				this.initialConnectionAutoCommit = this.con.getAutoCommit();
+
+			this.initialConnectionAutoCommit = this.con.getAutoCommit();
+
+			if (this.con.getAutoCommit() != this.connectionAutoCommit) {
 				this.con.setAutoCommit(this.connectionAutoCommit);
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/database/JdbcCursorItemReaderConfigTests.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/database/JdbcCursorItemReaderConfigTests.java
index 91e352eb97..1aaf7a7fbd 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/database/JdbcCursorItemReaderConfigTests.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/database/JdbcCursorItemReaderConfigTests.java
@@ -15,23 +15,16 @@
  */
 package org.springframework.batch.item.database;
 
-import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
-import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
-import static org.mockito.Mockito.reset;
-import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
-import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
-import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
-
 import java.sql.Connection;
 import java.sql.PreparedStatement;
 import java.sql.ResultSet;
-
 import javax.sql.DataSource;
 
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
 import org.junit.runners.JUnit4;
 import org.mockito.ArgumentCaptor;
+
 import org.springframework.batch.item.ExecutionContext;
 import org.springframework.jdbc.datasource.DataSourceTransactionManager;
 import org.springframework.transaction.PlatformTransactionManager;
@@ -39,6 +32,13 @@
 import org.springframework.transaction.support.TransactionCallback;
 import org.springframework.transaction.support.TransactionTemplate;
 
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.reset;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
 @RunWith(JUnit4.class)
 public class JdbcCursorItemReaderConfigTests {
 
@@ -107,8 +107,8 @@ public Void doInTransaction(TransactionStatus status) {
 
 	@Test
 	public void testOverrideConnectionAutoCommit() throws Exception {
-        boolean initialAutoCommit= false;
-        boolean neededAutoCommit = true;
+		boolean initialAutoCommit= false;
+		boolean neededAutoCommit = true;
 
 		DataSource ds = mock(DataSource.class);
 		Connection con = mock(Connection.class);