diff --git a/python-package/lightgbm/basic.py b/python-package/lightgbm/basic.py
index edd29e9a4aa0..f136142b61e5 100644
--- a/python-package/lightgbm/basic.py
+++ b/python-package/lightgbm/basic.py
@@ -3760,7 +3760,7 @@ def feature_importance(self, importance_type='split', iteration=None):
             ctypes.c_int(iteration),
             ctypes.c_int(importance_type_int),
             result.ctypes.data_as(ctypes.POINTER(ctypes.c_double))))
-        if importance_type_int == 0:
+        if importance_type_int == C_API_FEATURE_IMPORTANCE_SPLIT:
             return result.astype(np.int32)
         else:
             return result