diff --git a/netbox/utilities/forms/fields/fields.py b/netbox/utilities/forms/fields/fields.py
index 8d4863544dd..25e888bf278 100644
--- a/netbox/utilities/forms/fields/fields.py
+++ b/netbox/utilities/forms/fields/fields.py
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ def prepare_value(self, value):
             try:
                 value = json.loads(value, cls=self.decoder)
             except json.decoder.JSONDecodeError:
-                return value
+                return f'"{value}"'
         return json.dumps(value, sort_keys=True, indent=4, ensure_ascii=False, cls=self.encoder)