diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/StaxEventItemReader.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/StaxEventItemReader.java
index ee7598cfc5..80d170b77c 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/StaxEventItemReader.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/StaxEventItemReader.java
@@ -62,6 +62,8 @@ public class StaxEventItemReader<T> extends AbstractItemCountingItemStreamItemRe
 
 	private static final Log logger = LogFactory.getLog(StaxEventItemReader.class);
 
+	public static final String DEFAULT_ENCODING = "UTF-8";
+
 	private FragmentEventReader fragmentReader;
 
 	private XMLEventReader eventReader;
@@ -80,6 +82,8 @@ public class StaxEventItemReader<T> extends AbstractItemCountingItemStreamItemRe
 
 	private XMLInputFactory xmlInputFactory = StaxUtils.createXmlInputFactory();
 
+	private String encoding = DEFAULT_ENCODING;
+
 	public StaxEventItemReader() {
 		setName(ClassUtils.getShortName(StaxEventItemReader.class));
 	}
@@ -131,6 +135,16 @@ public void setXmlInputFactory(XMLInputFactory xmlInputFactory) {
 		this.xmlInputFactory = xmlInputFactory;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Set encoding to be used for input file.
+	 *
+	 * @param encoding the encoding to be used
+	 */
+	public void setEncoding(String encoding) {
+		Assert.notNull(encoding, "The encoding must not be null");
+		this.encoding = encoding;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Ensure that all required dependencies for the ItemReader to run are provided after all properties have been set.
 	 * 
@@ -221,7 +235,7 @@ protected void doOpen() throws Exception {
 		}
 
 		inputStream = resource.getInputStream();
-		eventReader = xmlInputFactory.createXMLEventReader(inputStream);
+		eventReader = xmlInputFactory.createXMLEventReader(inputStream, this.encoding);
 		fragmentReader = new DefaultFragmentEventReader(eventReader);
 		noInput = false;
 
diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/builder/StaxEventItemReaderBuilder.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/builder/StaxEventItemReaderBuilder.java
index d5e09beaf5..a84706b0f9 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/builder/StaxEventItemReaderBuilder.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/builder/StaxEventItemReaderBuilder.java
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
  *
  * @author Michael Minella
  * @author Glenn Renfro
+ * @author Mahmoud Ben Hassine
  * @since 4.0
  */
 public class StaxEventItemReaderBuilder<T> {
@@ -55,6 +56,8 @@ public class StaxEventItemReaderBuilder<T> {
 
 	private XMLInputFactory xmlInputFactory = StaxUtils.createXmlInputFactory();
 
+	private String encoding = StaxEventItemReader.DEFAULT_ENCODING;
+
 	/**
 	 * Configure if the state of the {@link org.springframework.batch.item.ItemStreamSupport}
 	 * should be persisted within the {@link org.springframework.batch.item.ExecutionContext}
@@ -193,6 +196,19 @@ public StaxEventItemReaderBuilder<T> xmlInputFactory(XMLInputFactory xmlInputFac
 		return this;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Encoding for the input file.  Defaults to UTF-8.
+	 *
+	 * @param encoding String encoding algorithm
+	 * @return the current instance of the builder
+	 * @see StaxEventItemReader#setEncoding(String)
+	 */
+	public StaxEventItemReaderBuilder<T> encoding(String encoding) {
+		this.encoding = encoding;
+
+		return this;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Validates the configuration and builds a new {@link StaxEventItemReader}
 	 *
@@ -222,6 +238,7 @@ public StaxEventItemReader<T> build() {
 		reader.setCurrentItemCount(this.currentItemCount);
 		reader.setMaxItemCount(this.maxItemCount);
 		reader.setXmlInputFactory(this.xmlInputFactory);
+		reader.setEncoding(this.encoding);
 
 		return reader;
 	}
diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/StaxEventItemReaderTests.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/StaxEventItemReaderTests.java
index 8f4a9a1825..3fdeb7e085 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/StaxEventItemReaderTests.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/StaxEventItemReaderTests.java
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.nio.charset.Charset;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -146,6 +149,26 @@ public void testFragmentWrapping() throws Exception {
 		source.close();
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Regular usage scenario with custom encoding.
+	 */
+	@Test
+	public void testEncoding() throws Exception {
+		Charset encoding = StandardCharsets.ISO_8859_1;
+		ByteBuffer xmlResource = encoding.encode(xml);
+		source.setResource(new ByteArrayResource(xmlResource.array()));
+		source.setEncoding(encoding.toString());
+		source.afterPropertiesSet();
+		source.open(executionContext);
+
+		// see asserts in the mock unmarshaller
+		assertNotNull(source.read());
+		assertNotNull(source.read());
+		assertNull(source.read()); // there are only two fragments
+
+		source.close();
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void testItemCountAwareFragment() throws Exception {
 		StaxEventItemReader<ItemCountAwareFragment> source = createNewItemCountAwareInputSource();
diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/builder/StaxEventItemReaderBuilderTests.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/builder/StaxEventItemReaderBuilderTests.java
index 7d2355140a..91ae43fe8c 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/builder/StaxEventItemReaderBuilderTests.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/builder/StaxEventItemReaderBuilderTests.java
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
  */
 package org.springframework.batch.item.xml.builder;
 
+import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlRootElement;
 import javax.xml.stream.XMLInputFactory;
 
@@ -116,6 +118,40 @@ public void testConfiguration() throws Exception {
 		assertEquals(2, executionContext.size());
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void testEncoding() throws Exception {
+		Jaxb2Marshaller unmarshaller = new Jaxb2Marshaller();
+		unmarshaller.setClassesToBeBound(Foo.class);
+
+		ByteBuffer xml = StandardCharsets.ISO_8859_1.encode(SIMPLE_XML);
+
+		StaxEventItemReader<Foo> reader = new StaxEventItemReaderBuilder<Foo>()
+				.name("fooReader")
+				.resource(new ByteArrayResource(xml.array()))
+				.encoding(StandardCharsets.ISO_8859_1.toString())
+				.addFragmentRootElements("foo")
+				.currentItemCount(1)
+				.maxItemCount(2)
+				.unmarshaller(unmarshaller)
+				.xmlInputFactory(XMLInputFactory.newInstance())
+				.build();
+
+		reader.afterPropertiesSet();
+
+		ExecutionContext executionContext = new ExecutionContext();
+		reader.open(executionContext);
+		Foo item = reader.read();
+		assertNull(reader.read());
+		reader.update(executionContext);
+
+		reader.close();
+
+		assertEquals(4, item.getFirst());
+		assertEquals("five", item.getSecond());
+		assertEquals("six", item.getThird());
+		assertEquals(2, executionContext.size());
+	}
+
 	@Test(expected = ItemStreamException.class)
 	public void testStrict() throws Exception {
 		Jaxb2Marshaller unmarshaller = new Jaxb2Marshaller();