diff --git a/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/php/api.mustache b/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/php/api.mustache
index cb143c12c07..bfab1fa8644 100644
--- a/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/php/api.mustache
+++ b/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/php/api.mustache
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ use {{invokerPackage}}\ObjectSerializer;
                         $content = $response->getBody(); //stream goes to serializer
                     } else {
                         $content = (string) $response->getBody();
-                        if ('{{dataType}}' !== 'string') {
+                        if ('{{{dataType}}}' !== 'string') {
                             $content = json_decode($content);
                         }
                     }
diff --git a/samples/client/petstore/php/OpenAPIClient-php/lib/Api/StoreApi.php b/samples/client/petstore/php/OpenAPIClient-php/lib/Api/StoreApi.php
index e7ae057751d..19a0faf690f 100644
--- a/samples/client/petstore/php/OpenAPIClient-php/lib/Api/StoreApi.php
+++ b/samples/client/petstore/php/OpenAPIClient-php/lib/Api/StoreApi.php
@@ -412,7 +412,7 @@ class StoreApi
                         $content = $response->getBody(); //stream goes to serializer
                     } else {
                         $content = (string) $response->getBody();
-                        if ('array<string,int>' !== 'string') {
+                        if ('array<string,int>' !== 'string') {
                             $content = json_decode($content);
                         }
                     }