diff --git a/jbpm-flow/pom.xml b/jbpm-flow/pom.xml
index d1e0d9b45c..3691bf9d9d 100644
--- a/jbpm-flow/pom.xml
+++ b/jbpm-flow/pom.xml
@@ -203,6 +203,11 @@
       <artifactId>jboss-jaxb-api_2.3_spec</artifactId>
       <scope>provided</scope>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
+      <artifactId>jackson-databind</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
+
   </dependencies>
 
 </project>
diff --git a/jbpm-flow/src/main/java/org/jbpm/workflow/instance/node/RuleSetNodeInstance.java b/jbpm-flow/src/main/java/org/jbpm/workflow/instance/node/RuleSetNodeInstance.java
index b7e62e272c..8defb854eb 100644
--- a/jbpm-flow/src/main/java/org/jbpm/workflow/instance/node/RuleSetNodeInstance.java
+++ b/jbpm-flow/src/main/java/org/jbpm/workflow/instance/node/RuleSetNodeInstance.java
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@
 import java.util.regex.Matcher;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationFeature;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.exception.ExceptionUtils;
 import org.drools.core.common.InternalAgenda;
 import org.drools.core.common.InternalKnowledgeRuntime;
@@ -85,6 +87,9 @@ public class RuleSetNodeInstance extends StateBasedNodeInstance implements Event
     // NOTE: ContetxInstances are not persisted as current functionality (exception scope) does not require it
     private Map<String, List<ContextInstance>> subContextInstances = new HashMap<>();
 
+    private ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper()
+            .configure(DeserializationFeature.FAIL_ON_UNKNOWN_PROPERTIES, false);
+
     protected RuleSetNode getRuleSetNode() {
         return (RuleSetNode) getNode();
     }
@@ -311,7 +316,17 @@ protected void processOutputs(Map<String, Object> objects) {
                         // exclude java.lang.Object as it is considered unknown type
                         if (!dataType.getStringType().endsWith("java.lang.Object") && value instanceof String) {
                             value = dataType.readValue((String) value);
+                        } else if (!dataType.getStringType().endsWith("java.lang.Object") && value instanceof Map) {
+                            try {
+                                Class<?> clazz = Class.forName(dataType.getStringType());
+                                if (!clazz.isInstance(Map.class)) {
+                                    value = objectMapper.convertValue(value, clazz);
+                                }
+                            } catch (Exception e) {
+                                throw new RuntimeException("Cannot convert value", e);
+                            }
                         }
+
                         variableScopeInstance.setVariable(association.getTarget(), value);
                     } else {
                         logger.warn("Could not find variable scope for variable {}", association.getTarget());
diff --git a/jbpm-flow/src/test/java/org/jbpm/workflow/instance/node/RuleSetInstanceTest.java b/jbpm-flow/src/test/java/org/jbpm/workflow/instance/node/RuleSetInstanceTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b999fd5557
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jbpm-flow/src/test/java/org/jbpm/workflow/instance/node/RuleSetInstanceTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,185 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 Red Hat, Inc. and/or its affiliates.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.jbpm.workflow.instance.node;
+
+
+import org.jbpm.process.core.context.variable.Variable;
+import org.jbpm.process.core.context.variable.VariableScope;
+import org.jbpm.process.core.datatype.DataType;
+import org.jbpm.process.core.datatype.impl.type.*;
+import org.jbpm.process.instance.context.variable.VariableScopeInstance;
+import org.jbpm.test.util.AbstractBaseTest;
+import org.jbpm.workflow.core.node.Assignment;
+import org.jbpm.workflow.core.node.DataAssociation;
+import org.jbpm.workflow.core.node.RuleSetNode;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.junit.runners.Parameterized;
+import org.junit.runners.Parameterized.Parameters;
+import org.mockito.ArgumentCaptor;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
+import java.util.*;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+import static org.mockito.Matchers.any;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.*;
+
+@RunWith(Parameterized.class)
+public class RuleSetInstanceTest extends AbstractBaseTest {
+	
+    public void addLogger() { 
+        logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(this.getClass());
+    }
+
+    RuleSetNodeInstance ruleSetNodeInstance;
+    RuleSetNode mockRuleSetNode;
+    VariableScopeInstance variableScopeInstance;
+    VariableScope variableScope;
+
+    @Parameters( name = "{index}: Actual: <{0}> Expected: <{1}> Type: <{3}>" )
+    public static Collection<Object[]> data() {
+        String className = "org.jbpm.workflow.instance.node.RuleSetInstanceTest$MyDataObject";
+
+        Map<String, Object> sourceMap = new HashMap<>();
+        sourceMap.put("message", "abc");
+        sourceMap.put("status", true);
+        sourceMap.put("code", 1);
+
+        MyDataObject targetDataObject = new MyDataObject("abc", true, 1);
+
+        return Arrays.asList(new Object[][] {
+                {"abc", "abc", new StringDataType(), "java.lang.String"},
+                {true, true, new BooleanDataType(), "java.lang.Boolean"},
+                {"true", true, new BooleanDataType(), "java.lang.Boolean"},
+                {123, 123, new IntegerDataType(), "java.lang.Integer"},
+                {"123", 123, new IntegerDataType(), "java.lang.Integer"},
+                {12.3, 12.3, new ObjectDataType(), "java.lang.Double"},
+                {"12.3", 12.3F, new FloatDataType(), "java.lang.Float"},
+                {sourceMap, targetDataObject, new ObjectDataType(className), className},
+        });
+    }
+
+    private final String sourceName;
+    private final String targetName;
+    private final Object sourceObject;
+    private final Object targetObject;
+    private final DataType variableDataType;
+    private final String targetDataType;
+
+    public RuleSetInstanceTest(Object sourceObject, Object targetObject, DataType variableDataType, String targetDataType) {
+        this.sourceName = "sourceName";
+        this.targetName = "targetName";
+        this.sourceObject = sourceObject;
+        this.targetObject = targetObject;
+        this.variableDataType = variableDataType;
+        this.targetDataType = targetDataType;
+    }
+
+    @Before
+    public void setup() {
+        ruleSetNodeInstance = spy(RuleSetNodeInstance.class);
+
+        mockRuleSetNode = mock(RuleSetNode.class);
+        doReturn(mockRuleSetNode).when(ruleSetNodeInstance).getRuleSetNode();
+
+        variableScopeInstance = mock(VariableScopeInstance.class);
+        doReturn(variableScopeInstance).when(ruleSetNodeInstance).resolveContextInstance(any(), any());
+    }
+    
+    @Test
+    public void testProcessOutputs() {
+        List<Assignment> assignments = new ArrayList<>();
+        DataAssociation dataAssociation = new DataAssociation(sourceName, targetName, assignments, null);
+        List<DataAssociation> dataAssociations = new ArrayList<>();
+        dataAssociations.add(dataAssociation);
+
+        doReturn(dataAssociations).when(mockRuleSetNode).getOutAssociations();
+
+        Variable variable = new Variable();
+        variable.setName(targetName);
+        variable.setType(variableDataType);
+        List<Variable> variables = new ArrayList<>();
+        variables.add(variable);
+
+        variableScope = new VariableScope();
+        variableScope.setVariables(variables);
+        doReturn(variableScope).when(variableScopeInstance).getVariableScope();
+
+        Map<String, Object> outputs = new HashMap<>();
+        outputs.put(sourceName, sourceObject);
+        ruleSetNodeInstance.processOutputs(outputs);
+
+        ArgumentCaptor<String> targetCaptor = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(String.class);
+        ArgumentCaptor<Object> valueCaptor = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(Object.class);
+
+        verify(variableScopeInstance, times(1)).setVariable(targetCaptor.capture(), valueCaptor.capture());
+
+        assertThat(targetCaptor.getValue()).isEqualTo(targetName);
+        assertThat(valueCaptor.getValue().getClass().getTypeName()).isEqualTo(targetDataType);
+        assertThat(valueCaptor.getValue()).isEqualToComparingFieldByField(targetObject);
+    }
+
+    public static class MyDataObject {
+        private String message;
+        private Boolean status;
+        private Integer code;
+
+        public MyDataObject() {
+        }
+
+        public MyDataObject(String message, Boolean status, Integer code) {
+            this.message = message;
+            this.status = status;
+            this.code = code;
+        }
+
+        public String getMessage() {
+            return message;
+        }
+
+        public void setMessage(String message) {
+            this.message = message;
+        }
+
+        public Boolean getStatus() {
+            return status;
+        }
+
+        public void setStatus(Boolean status) {
+            this.status = status;
+        }
+
+        public Integer getCode() {
+            return code;
+        }
+
+        public void setCode(Integer code) {
+            this.code = code;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public String toString() {
+            return "MyDataObject{" +
+                    "message='" + message + '\'' +
+                    ", status=" + status +
+                    ", code=" + code +
+                    '}';
+        }
+    }
+}