diff --git a/python/pyarrow/_compute.pyx b/python/pyarrow/_compute.pyx
index 7e32ba48fbf30..ab63a7a19f7f6 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/_compute.pyx
+++ b/python/pyarrow/_compute.pyx
@@ -1565,7 +1565,7 @@ class MapLookupOptions(_MapLookupOptions):
 
     Parameters
     ----------
-    query_key : Scalar
+    query_key : Scalar or Object can be converted to Scalar
         The key to search for.
     occurrence : str
         The occurrence(s) to return from the Map
@@ -1573,6 +1573,9 @@ class MapLookupOptions(_MapLookupOptions):
     """
 
     def __init__(self, query_key, occurrence):
+        if not isinstance(query_key, lib.Scalar):
+            query_key = lib.scalar(query_key)
+
         self._set_options(query_key, occurrence)
 
 
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/tests/test_compute.py b/python/pyarrow/tests/test_compute.py
index d9209ada24a5c..865fecc7b2291 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/tests/test_compute.py
+++ b/python/pyarrow/tests/test_compute.py
@@ -3093,6 +3093,7 @@ def test_map_lookup():
     result_all = pa.array([[1], None, None, [5, 7], None],
                           type=pa.list_(pa.int32()))
 
+    assert pc.map_lookup(arr, 'one', 'first') == result_first
     assert pc.map_lookup(arr, pa.scalar(
         'one', type=pa.utf8()), 'first') == result_first
     assert pc.map_lookup(arr, pa.scalar(