diff --git a/R-package/configure b/R-package/configure
index fa84d8149874..834cb95c2f94 100755
--- a/R-package/configure
+++ b/R-package/configure
@@ -2857,7 +2857,7 @@ main (void)
   return 0;
 }
 _ACEOF
-  ${CC} -o conftest conftest.c ${CPPFLAGS} ${LDFLAGS} ${OPENMP_LIB} ${OPENMP_CXXFLAGS} 2>/dev/null && ./conftest && ac_pkg_openmp=yes
+  ${CXX} -o conftest conftest.cpp ${CPPFLAGS} ${LDFLAGS} ${OPENMP_LIB} ${OPENMP_CXXFLAGS} 2>/dev/null && ./conftest && ac_pkg_openmp=yes
   { printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: ${ac_pkg_openmp}" >&5
 printf "%s\n" "${ac_pkg_openmp}" >&6; }
   if test "${ac_pkg_openmp}" = no; then
diff --git a/R-package/configure.ac b/R-package/configure.ac
index 9cc2dca17133..4e6cfee70c09 100644
--- a/R-package/configure.ac
+++ b/R-package/configure.ac
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ then
   ac_pkg_openmp=no
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether OpenMP will work in a package])
   AC_LANG_CONFTEST([AC_LANG_PROGRAM([[#include <omp.h>]], [[ return (omp_get_max_threads() <= 1); ]])])
-  ${CC} -o conftest conftest.c ${CPPFLAGS} ${LDFLAGS} ${OPENMP_LIB} ${OPENMP_CXXFLAGS} 2>/dev/null && ./conftest && ac_pkg_openmp=yes
+  ${CXX} -o conftest conftest.cpp ${CPPFLAGS} ${LDFLAGS} ${OPENMP_LIB} ${OPENMP_CXXFLAGS} 2>/dev/null && ./conftest && ac_pkg_openmp=yes
   AC_MSG_RESULT([${ac_pkg_openmp}])
   if test "${ac_pkg_openmp}" = no; then
     OPENMP_CXXFLAGS=''