diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/internal/io/HadoopMapReduceCommitProtocol.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/internal/io/HadoopMapReduceCommitProtocol.scala
index b1d07ab2c9199..a7e6859ef6b64 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/internal/io/HadoopMapReduceCommitProtocol.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/internal/io/HadoopMapReduceCommitProtocol.scala
@@ -35,6 +35,9 @@ import org.apache.spark.mapred.SparkHadoopMapRedUtil
  * (from the newer mapreduce API, not the old mapred API).
  *
  * Unlike Hadoop's OutputCommitter, this implementation is serializable.
+ *
+ * @param jobId the job's or stage's id
+ * @param path the job's output path, or null if committer acts as a noop
  */
 class HadoopMapReduceCommitProtocol(jobId: String, path: String)
   extends FileCommitProtocol with Serializable with Logging {
@@ -57,6 +60,15 @@ class HadoopMapReduceCommitProtocol(jobId: String, path: String)
    */
   private def absPathStagingDir: Path = new Path(path, "_temporary-" + jobId)
 
+  /**
+   * Checks whether there are files to be committed to an absolute output location.
+   *
+   * As committing and aborting a job occurs on driver, where `addedAbsPathFiles` is always null,
+   * it is necessary to check whether the output path is specified. Output path may not be required
+   * for committers not writing to distributed file systems.
+   */
+  private def hasAbsPathFiles: Boolean = path != null
+
   protected def setupCommitter(context: TaskAttemptContext): OutputCommitter = {
     val format = context.getOutputFormatClass.newInstance()
     // If OutputFormat is Configurable, we should set conf to it.
@@ -130,17 +142,21 @@ class HadoopMapReduceCommitProtocol(jobId: String, path: String)
     val filesToMove = taskCommits.map(_.obj.asInstanceOf[Map[String, String]])
       .foldLeft(Map[String, String]())(_ ++ _)
     logDebug(s"Committing files staged for absolute locations $filesToMove")
-    val fs = absPathStagingDir.getFileSystem(jobContext.getConfiguration)
-    for ((src, dst) <- filesToMove) {
-      fs.rename(new Path(src), new Path(dst))
+    if (hasAbsPathFiles) {
+      val fs = absPathStagingDir.getFileSystem(jobContext.getConfiguration)
+      for ((src, dst) <- filesToMove) {
+        fs.rename(new Path(src), new Path(dst))
+      }
+      fs.delete(absPathStagingDir, true)
     }
-    fs.delete(absPathStagingDir, true)
   }
 
   override def abortJob(jobContext: JobContext): Unit = {
     committer.abortJob(jobContext, JobStatus.State.FAILED)
-    val fs = absPathStagingDir.getFileSystem(jobContext.getConfiguration)
-    fs.delete(absPathStagingDir, true)
+    if (hasAbsPathFiles) {
+      val fs = absPathStagingDir.getFileSystem(jobContext.getConfiguration)
+      fs.delete(absPathStagingDir, true)
+    }
   }
 
   override def setupTask(taskContext: TaskAttemptContext): Unit = {
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/PairRDDFunctionsSuite.scala b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/PairRDDFunctionsSuite.scala
index 44dd955ce8690..07579c5098014 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/PairRDDFunctionsSuite.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/PairRDDFunctionsSuite.scala
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import org.apache.commons.math3.distribution.{BinomialDistribution, PoissonDistr
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.{Configurable, Configuration}
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileSystem
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapred._
-import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.{JobContext => NewJobContext,
+import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.{Job => NewJob, JobContext => NewJobContext,
   OutputCommitter => NewOutputCommitter, OutputFormat => NewOutputFormat,
   RecordWriter => NewRecordWriter, TaskAttemptContext => NewTaskAttempContext}
 import org.apache.hadoop.util.Progressable
@@ -568,6 +568,37 @@ class PairRDDFunctionsSuite extends SparkFunSuite with SharedSparkContext {
     assert(FakeWriterWithCallback.exception.getMessage contains "failed to write")
   }
 
+  test("saveAsNewAPIHadoopDataset should respect empty output directory when " +
+    "there are no files to be committed to an absolute output location") {
+    val pairs = sc.parallelize(Array((new Integer(1), new Integer(2))), 1)
+
+    val job = NewJob.getInstance(new Configuration(sc.hadoopConfiguration))
+    job.setOutputKeyClass(classOf[Integer])
+    job.setOutputValueClass(classOf[Integer])
+    job.setOutputFormatClass(classOf[NewFakeFormat])
+    val jobConfiguration = job.getConfiguration
+
+    // just test that the job does not fail with
+    // java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Can not create a Path from a null string
+    pairs.saveAsNewAPIHadoopDataset(jobConfiguration)
+  }
+
+  test("saveAsHadoopDataset should respect empty output directory when " +
+    "there are no files to be committed to an absolute output location") {
+    val pairs = sc.parallelize(Array((new Integer(1), new Integer(2))), 1)
+
+    val conf = new JobConf()
+    conf.setOutputKeyClass(classOf[Integer])
+    conf.setOutputValueClass(classOf[Integer])
+    conf.setOutputFormat(classOf[FakeOutputFormat])
+    conf.setOutputCommitter(classOf[FakeOutputCommitter])
+
+    FakeOutputCommitter.ran = false
+    pairs.saveAsHadoopDataset(conf)
+
+    assert(FakeOutputCommitter.ran, "OutputCommitter was never called")
+  }
+
   test("lookup") {
     val pairs = sc.parallelize(Array((1, 2), (3, 4), (5, 6), (5, 7)))