diff --git a/clients/venice-admin-tool/src/main/java/com/linkedin/venice/AdminTool.java b/clients/venice-admin-tool/src/main/java/com/linkedin/venice/AdminTool.java
index 82df29d470..e8774e8c1d 100644
--- a/clients/venice-admin-tool/src/main/java/com/linkedin/venice/AdminTool.java
+++ b/clients/venice-admin-tool/src/main/java/com/linkedin/venice/AdminTool.java
@@ -992,7 +992,7 @@ private static void stringMapParam(
       Arg param,
       Consumer<Map<String, String>> setter,
       Set<Arg> argSet) {
-    genericParam(cmd, param, s -> Utils.parseCommaSeparatedStringMapFromString(s, param.toString()), setter, argSet);
+    genericParam(cmd, param, s -> Utils.parseJsonMapFromString(s, param.toString()), setter, argSet);
   }
 
   private static void stringSetParam(CommandLine cmd, Arg param, Consumer<Set<String>> setter, Set<Arg> argSet) {
diff --git a/clients/venice-admin-tool/src/test/java/com/linkedin/venice/TestAdminTool.java b/clients/venice-admin-tool/src/test/java/com/linkedin/venice/TestAdminTool.java
index e7cef8c86e..d59e0ab3e0 100644
--- a/clients/venice-admin-tool/src/test/java/com/linkedin/venice/TestAdminTool.java
+++ b/clients/venice-admin-tool/src/test/java/com/linkedin/venice/TestAdminTool.java
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ public void testAdminUpdateStoreArg() throws ParseException, IOException {
     final String K1 = "k1", V1 = "v1", K2 = "k2", V2 = "v2", K3 = "k3", V3 = "v3";
     String[] args = { "--update-store", "--url", "http://localhost:7036", "--cluster", "test-cluster", "--store",
         "testStore", "--rmd-chunking-enabled", "true", "--partitioner-params",
-        K1 + "=" + V1 + "," + K2 + "=" + V2 + "," + K3 + "=" + V3 };
+        "{\"" + K1 + "\":\"" + V1 + "\",\"" + K2 + "\":\"" + V2 + "\",\"" + K3 + "\":\"" + V3 + "\"}" };
 
     CommandLine commandLine = AdminTool.getCommandLine(args);
     UpdateStoreQueryParams params = AdminTool.getUpdateStoreQueryParams(commandLine);
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ public void testAdminConfigureView() throws ParseException, IOException {
     // Case 1: Happy path to setup a view.
     String[] args = { "--configure-store-view", "--url", "http://localhost:7036", "--cluster", "test-cluster",
         "--store", "testStore", "--view-name", "testView", "--view-class", ChangeCaptureView.class.getCanonicalName(),
-        "--view-params", K1 + "=" + V1 + "," + K2 + "=" + V2 };
+        "--view-params", "{\"" + K1 + "\":\"" + V1 + "\",\"" + K2 + "\":\"" + V2 + "\"}" };
 
     CommandLine commandLine = AdminTool.getCommandLine(args);
     UpdateStoreQueryParams params = AdminTool.getConfigureStoreViewQueryParams(commandLine);
diff --git a/internal/venice-common/src/main/java/com/linkedin/venice/utils/Utils.java b/internal/venice-common/src/main/java/com/linkedin/venice/utils/Utils.java
index a1641d7817..ba6b2d8ecd 100644
--- a/internal/venice-common/src/main/java/com/linkedin/venice/utils/Utils.java
+++ b/internal/venice-common/src/main/java/com/linkedin/venice/utils/Utils.java
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 import static com.linkedin.venice.HttpConstants.LOCALHOST;
 
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.type.TypeReference;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
 import com.linkedin.avroutil1.compatibility.AvroCompatibilityHelper;
 import com.linkedin.venice.controllerapi.ControllerResponse;
 import com.linkedin.venice.exceptions.ConfigurationException;
@@ -306,18 +308,20 @@ public static boolean parseBooleanFromString(String value, String fieldName) {
   }
 
   /**
-   * For String-String key-value map config, we expect the command-line interface users to use "key1=value1,key2=value2,..."
+   * For String-String key-value map config, we expect the command-line interface users to use JSON
    * format to represent it. This method deserialize it to String-String map.
    */
-  public static Map<String, String> parseCommaSeparatedStringMapFromString(String value, String fieldName) {
+  public static Map<String, String> parseJsonMapFromString(String value, String fieldName) {
     try {
       Map<String, String> map = new HashMap<>();
       if (!value.isEmpty()) {
-        Arrays.stream(value.split(",")).map(s -> s.split("=")).forEach(strings -> map.put(strings[0], strings[1]));
+        ObjectMapper objectMapper = ObjectMapperFactory.getInstance();
+        return objectMapper.readValue(value, new TypeReference<Map<String, String>>() {
+        });
       }
       return map;
-    } catch (Exception e) {
-      throw new VeniceException(fieldName + " must be key value pairs separated by comma, but value: " + value);
+    } catch (IOException jsonException) {
+      throw new VeniceException(fieldName + " must be a valid JSON object, but value: " + value);
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/internal/venice-common/src/test/java/com/linkedin/venice/utils/UtilsTest.java b/internal/venice-common/src/test/java/com/linkedin/venice/utils/UtilsTest.java
index baa069c4a4..24f3cc4acf 100644
--- a/internal/venice-common/src/test/java/com/linkedin/venice/utils/UtilsTest.java
+++ b/internal/venice-common/src/test/java/com/linkedin/venice/utils/UtilsTest.java
@@ -167,16 +167,16 @@ public void testIterateOnMapOfLists() throws Exception {
 
   @Test
   public void testParseMap() {
-    assertEquals(Utils.parseCommaSeparatedStringMapFromString("", "test_field").size(), 0);
-    Map nonEmptyMap = Utils.parseCommaSeparatedStringMapFromString("a=b", "test_field");
     Map expectedMap = new HashMap<>();
     expectedMap.put("a", "b");
-    assertEquals(nonEmptyMap, expectedMap);
 
-    VeniceException e = expectThrows(
-        VeniceException.class,
-        () -> Utils.parseCommaSeparatedStringMapFromString("invalid_value", "test_field"));
-    assertTrue(e.getMessage().contains("must be key value pairs separated by comma"));
+    assertEquals(Utils.parseJsonMapFromString("", "test_field").size(), 0);
+    Map validMap = Utils.parseJsonMapFromString("{\"a\":\"b\"}", "test_field");
+    assertEquals(validMap, expectedMap);
+
+    VeniceException e = expectThrows(VeniceException.class, () -> Utils.parseJsonMapFromString("a=b", "test_field"));
+    assertTrue(e.getMessage().contains("must be a valid JSON object"));
+
   }
 
   @Test