diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/AbstractStepParser.java b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/AbstractStepParser.java
index e6e02a1e7..e5e364813 100644
--- a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/AbstractStepParser.java
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/AbstractStepParser.java
@@ -207,7 +207,8 @@ public abstract class AbstractStepParser {
 				String[] exceptionArray = StringUtils.tokenizeToStringArray(exceptions, ",\n");
 				if (exceptionArray.length > 0) {
 					ManagedList managedList = new ManagedList();
-					managedList.setMergeEnabled(Boolean.valueOf(child.getAttribute(MERGE_ATTR)));
+					managedList.setMergeEnabled(child.hasAttribute(MERGE_ATTR)
+							&& Boolean.valueOf(child.getAttribute(MERGE_ATTR)));
 					managedList.addAll(Arrays.asList(exceptionArray));
 					propertyValues.addPropertyValue(propertyName, managedList);
 				}
@@ -242,7 +243,8 @@ public abstract class AbstractStepParser {
 					parserContext.extractSource(stepElement));
 			parserContext.pushContainingComponent(compositeDef);
 			ManagedList listenerBeans = new ManagedList();
-			listenerBeans.setMergeEnabled(Boolean.valueOf(listenersElement.getAttribute(MERGE_ATTR)));
+			listenerBeans.setMergeEnabled(listenersElement.hasAttribute(MERGE_ATTR)
+					&& Boolean.valueOf(listenersElement.getAttribute(MERGE_ATTR)));
 			List<Element> listenerElements = DomUtils.getChildElementsByTagName(listenersElement, "listener");
 			if (listenerElements != null) {
 				for (Element listenerElement : listenerElements) {
diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/ChunkElementParser.java b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/ChunkElementParser.java
index 3e3f1db15..af809350b 100644
--- a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/ChunkElementParser.java
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/ChunkElementParser.java
@@ -155,7 +155,8 @@ public class ChunkElementParser {
 					parserContext.extractSource(element));
 			parserContext.pushContainingComponent(compositeDef);
 			ManagedList retryListenerBeans = new ManagedList();
-			retryListenerBeans.setMergeEnabled(Boolean.valueOf(listenersElement.getAttribute(MERGE_ATTR)));
+			retryListenerBeans.setMergeEnabled(listenersElement.hasAttribute(MERGE_ATTR)
+					&& Boolean.valueOf(listenersElement.getAttribute(MERGE_ATTR)));
 			handleRetryListenerElements(parserContext, listenersElement, retryListenerBeans);
 			propertyValues.addPropertyValue("retryListeners", retryListenerBeans);
 			parserContext.popAndRegisterContainingComponent();
@@ -215,7 +216,8 @@ public class ChunkElementParser {
 		Element streamsElement = DomUtils.getChildElementByTagName(element, "streams");
 		if (streamsElement != null) {
 			ManagedList streamBeans = new ManagedList();
-			streamBeans.setMergeEnabled(Boolean.valueOf(streamsElement.getAttribute(MERGE_ATTR)));
+			streamBeans.setMergeEnabled(streamsElement.hasAttribute(MERGE_ATTR)
+					&& Boolean.valueOf(streamsElement.getAttribute(MERGE_ATTR)));
 			List<Element> streamElements = DomUtils.getChildElementsByTagName(streamsElement, "stream");
 			if (streamElements != null) {
 				for (Element streamElement : streamElements) {
diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/JobParser.java b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/JobParser.java
index 3c3b43640..317aceeb7 100644
--- a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/JobParser.java
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/JobParser.java
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@ import org.w3c.dom.Element;
  */
 public class JobParser extends AbstractSingleBeanDefinitionParser {
 
+	private static final String MERGE_ATTR = "merge";
+
 	private static final JobExecutionListenerParser jobListenerParser = new JobExecutionListenerParser();
 
 	@Override
@@ -96,7 +98,8 @@ public class JobParser extends AbstractSingleBeanDefinitionParser {
 					parserContext.extractSource(element));
 			parserContext.pushContainingComponent(compositeDef);
 			ManagedList listeners = new ManagedList();
-			listeners.setMergeEnabled(Boolean.valueOf(listenersElement.getAttribute("merge")));
+			listeners.setMergeEnabled(listenersElement.hasAttribute(MERGE_ATTR)
+					&& Boolean.valueOf(listenersElement.getAttribute(MERGE_ATTR)));
 			List<Element> listenerElements = (List<Element>) DomUtils.getChildElementsByTagName(listenersElement,
 					"listener");
 			for (Element listenerElement : listenerElements) {
diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/main/resources/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/spring-batch-2.0.xsd b/spring-batch-core/src/main/resources/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/spring-batch-2.0.xsd
index 81307ed1e..5b2b00f0a 100644
--- a/spring-batch-core/src/main/resources/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/spring-batch-2.0.xsd
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/main/resources/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/spring-batch-2.0.xsd
@@ -811,7 +811,7 @@
 	</xsd:attributeGroup>
 
 	<xsd:attributeGroup name="mergeAttribute">
-		<xsd:attribute name="merge" type="xsd:boolean" default="false" use="optional">
+		<xsd:attribute name="merge" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional">
 			<xsd:annotation>
 				<xsd:documentation>
 					Should this list be merged with the corresponding list provided