diff --git a/httprunner/built_in.py b/httprunner/built_in.py
index ebf46867..d5d69242 100644
--- a/httprunner/built_in.py
+++ b/httprunner/built_in.py
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ def setup_hook_prepare_kwargs(method, url, kwargs):
         content_type = kwargs.get("headers", {}).get("content-type")
         if content_type and "data" in kwargs:
             # if request content-type is application/json, request data should be dumped
-            if content_type.startswith("application/json"):
+            if content_type.startswith("application/json") and isinstance(kwargs["data"], (dict, list)):
                 kwargs["data"] = json.dumps(kwargs["data"])
 
             if isinstance(kwargs["data"], str):
diff --git a/tests/test_httprunner.py b/tests/test_httprunner.py
index c5a222d4..1ef82513 100644
--- a/tests/test_httprunner.py
+++ b/tests/test_httprunner.py
@@ -106,3 +106,36 @@ class TestHttpRunner(ApiServerUnittest):
         self.assertTrue(summary["success"])
         self.assertEqual(summary["stat"]["testsRun"], 1)
         self.assertIn("records", summary)
+
+    def test_run_post_data(self):
+        testsets = [
+            {
+                "name": "post data",
+                "config": {
+                    "path": ""
+                },
+
+                "testcases": [
+                    {
+                        "name": "post data",
+                        "request": {
+                            "url": "https://httpbin.org/post",
+                            "method": "POST",
+                            "headers": {
+                                "Content-Type": "application/json"
+                            },
+                            "data": "abc"
+                        },
+                        "validate": [
+                            {"eq": ["status_code", 200]}
+                        ]
+                    }
+
+                ]
+            }
+        ]
+        runner = HttpRunner().run(testsets)
+        summary = runner.summary
+        self.assertTrue(summary["success"])
+        self.assertEqual(summary["stat"]["testsRun"], 1)
+        self.assertEqual(summary["records"][0]["meta_data"]["response_body"]["data"], "abc")