diff --git a/flink/v1.19/flink/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/flink/sink/IcebergSink.java b/flink/v1.19/flink/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/flink/sink/IcebergSink.java
index bb9711234bf3..b267e0c086cb 100644
--- a/flink/v1.19/flink/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/flink/sink/IcebergSink.java
+++ b/flink/v1.19/flink/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/flink/sink/IcebergSink.java
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 import java.time.Duration;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Optional;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.UUID;
 import java.util.function.Function;
@@ -664,9 +665,7 @@ public DataStreamSink<RowData> append() {
       // Note that IcebergSink internally consists o multiple operators (like writer, committer,
       // aggregator).
       // The following parallelism will be propagated to all of the above operators.
-      if (sink.flinkWriteConf.writeParallelism() != null) {
-        rowDataDataStreamSink.setParallelism(sink.flinkWriteConf.writeParallelism());
-      }
+      rowDataDataStreamSink.setParallelism(sink.resolveWriterParallelism(rowDataInput));
       return rowDataDataStreamSink;
     }
   }
@@ -818,16 +817,19 @@ private DataStream<RowData> distributeDataStreamByHashDistributionMode(
     }
   }
 
+  private int resolveWriterParallelism(DataStream<RowData> input) {
+    // if the writeParallelism is not specified, we set the default to the input parallelism to
+    // encourage chaining.
+    return Optional.ofNullable(flinkWriteConf.writeParallelism()).orElseGet(input::getParallelism);
+  }
+
   private DataStream<RowData> distributeDataStreamByRangeDistributionMode(
       DataStream<RowData> input,
       Schema iSchema,
       PartitionSpec partitionSpec,
       SortOrder sortOrderParam) {
 
-    int writerParallelism =
-        flinkWriteConf.writeParallelism() == null
-            ? input.getParallelism()
-            : flinkWriteConf.writeParallelism();
+    int writerParallelism = resolveWriterParallelism(input);
 
     // needed because of checkStyle not allowing us to change the value of an argument
     SortOrder sortOrder = sortOrderParam;
diff --git a/flink/v1.19/flink/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/flink/sink/TestIcebergSink.java b/flink/v1.19/flink/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/flink/sink/TestIcebergSink.java
index c7ad594412ad..138831b69eca 100644
--- a/flink/v1.19/flink/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/flink/sink/TestIcebergSink.java
+++ b/flink/v1.19/flink/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/flink/sink/TestIcebergSink.java
@@ -388,6 +388,51 @@ void testErrorOnNullForRequiredField() throws Exception {
     assertThatThrownBy(() -> env.execute()).hasRootCauseInstanceOf(NullPointerException.class);
   }
 
+  @TestTemplate
+  void testDefaultWriteParallelism() {
+    List<Row> rows = createRows("");
+    DataStream<Row> dataStream =
+        env.addSource(createBoundedSource(rows), ROW_TYPE_INFO).uid("mySourceId");
+
+    var sink =
+        IcebergSink.forRow(dataStream, SimpleDataUtil.FLINK_SCHEMA)
+            .table(table)
+            .tableLoader(tableLoader)
+            .tableSchema(SimpleDataUtil.FLINK_SCHEMA)
+            .distributionMode(DistributionMode.NONE)
+            .append();
+
+    // since the sink write parallelism was null, it asserts that the default parallelism used was
+    // the input source parallelism.
+    // sink.getTransformation is referring to the SinkV2 Writer Operator associated to the
+    // IcebergSink
+    assertThat(sink.getTransformation().getParallelism()).isEqualTo(dataStream.getParallelism());
+  }
+
+  @TestTemplate
+  void testWriteParallelism() {
+    List<Row> rows = createRows("");
+
+    // the parallelism of this input source is always 1, as this is a non-parallel source.
+    DataStream<Row> dataStream =
+        env.addSource(createBoundedSource(rows), ROW_TYPE_INFO).uid("mySourceId");
+
+    var sink =
+        IcebergSink.forRow(dataStream, SimpleDataUtil.FLINK_SCHEMA)
+            .table(table)
+            .tableLoader(tableLoader)
+            .tableSchema(SimpleDataUtil.FLINK_SCHEMA)
+            .distributionMode(DistributionMode.NONE)
+            .writeParallelism(parallelism)
+            .append();
+
+    // The parallelism has been properly specified when creating the IcebergSink, so this asserts
+    // that its value is the same as the parallelism TestTemplate parameter
+    // sink.getTransformation is referring to the SinkV2 Writer Operator associated to the
+    // IcebergSink
+    assertThat(sink.getTransformation().getParallelism()).isEqualTo(parallelism);
+  }
+
   private void testWriteRow(TableSchema tableSchema, DistributionMode distributionMode)
       throws Exception {
     List<Row> rows = createRows("");
diff --git a/flink/v1.20/flink/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/flink/sink/IcebergSink.java b/flink/v1.20/flink/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/flink/sink/IcebergSink.java
index 586f96468d59..7546518cdef1 100644
--- a/flink/v1.20/flink/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/flink/sink/IcebergSink.java
+++ b/flink/v1.20/flink/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/flink/sink/IcebergSink.java
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 import java.time.Duration;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Optional;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.UUID;
 import java.util.function.Function;
@@ -676,9 +677,7 @@ public DataStreamSink<RowData> append() {
       // Note that IcebergSink internally consists o multiple operators (like writer, committer,
       // aggregator).
       // The following parallelism will be propagated to all of the above operators.
-      if (sink.flinkWriteConf.writeParallelism() != null) {
-        rowDataDataStreamSink.setParallelism(sink.flinkWriteConf.writeParallelism());
-      }
+      rowDataDataStreamSink.setParallelism(sink.resolveWriterParallelism(rowDataInput));
       return rowDataDataStreamSink;
     }
   }
@@ -830,16 +829,19 @@ private DataStream<RowData> distributeDataStreamByHashDistributionMode(
     }
   }
 
+  private int resolveWriterParallelism(DataStream<RowData> input) {
+    // if the writeParallelism is not specified, we set the default to the input parallelism to
+    // encourage chaining.
+    return Optional.ofNullable(flinkWriteConf.writeParallelism()).orElseGet(input::getParallelism);
+  }
+
   private DataStream<RowData> distributeDataStreamByRangeDistributionMode(
       DataStream<RowData> input,
       Schema iSchema,
       PartitionSpec partitionSpec,
       SortOrder sortOrderParam) {
 
-    int writerParallelism =
-        flinkWriteConf.writeParallelism() == null
-            ? input.getParallelism()
-            : flinkWriteConf.writeParallelism();
+    int writerParallelism = resolveWriterParallelism(input);
 
     // needed because of checkStyle not allowing us to change the value of an argument
     SortOrder sortOrder = sortOrderParam;
diff --git a/flink/v1.20/flink/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/flink/sink/TestIcebergSink.java b/flink/v1.20/flink/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/flink/sink/TestIcebergSink.java
index c7ad594412ad..138831b69eca 100644
--- a/flink/v1.20/flink/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/flink/sink/TestIcebergSink.java
+++ b/flink/v1.20/flink/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/flink/sink/TestIcebergSink.java
@@ -388,6 +388,51 @@ void testErrorOnNullForRequiredField() throws Exception {
     assertThatThrownBy(() -> env.execute()).hasRootCauseInstanceOf(NullPointerException.class);
   }
 
+  @TestTemplate
+  void testDefaultWriteParallelism() {
+    List<Row> rows = createRows("");
+    DataStream<Row> dataStream =
+        env.addSource(createBoundedSource(rows), ROW_TYPE_INFO).uid("mySourceId");
+
+    var sink =
+        IcebergSink.forRow(dataStream, SimpleDataUtil.FLINK_SCHEMA)
+            .table(table)
+            .tableLoader(tableLoader)
+            .tableSchema(SimpleDataUtil.FLINK_SCHEMA)
+            .distributionMode(DistributionMode.NONE)
+            .append();
+
+    // since the sink write parallelism was null, it asserts that the default parallelism used was
+    // the input source parallelism.
+    // sink.getTransformation is referring to the SinkV2 Writer Operator associated to the
+    // IcebergSink
+    assertThat(sink.getTransformation().getParallelism()).isEqualTo(dataStream.getParallelism());
+  }
+
+  @TestTemplate
+  void testWriteParallelism() {
+    List<Row> rows = createRows("");
+
+    // the parallelism of this input source is always 1, as this is a non-parallel source.
+    DataStream<Row> dataStream =
+        env.addSource(createBoundedSource(rows), ROW_TYPE_INFO).uid("mySourceId");
+
+    var sink =
+        IcebergSink.forRow(dataStream, SimpleDataUtil.FLINK_SCHEMA)
+            .table(table)
+            .tableLoader(tableLoader)
+            .tableSchema(SimpleDataUtil.FLINK_SCHEMA)
+            .distributionMode(DistributionMode.NONE)
+            .writeParallelism(parallelism)
+            .append();
+
+    // The parallelism has been properly specified when creating the IcebergSink, so this asserts
+    // that its value is the same as the parallelism TestTemplate parameter
+    // sink.getTransformation is referring to the SinkV2 Writer Operator associated to the
+    // IcebergSink
+    assertThat(sink.getTransformation().getParallelism()).isEqualTo(parallelism);
+  }
+
   private void testWriteRow(TableSchema tableSchema, DistributionMode distributionMode)
       throws Exception {
     List<Row> rows = createRows("");