diff --git a/python/pyarrow/src/arrow/python/python_to_arrow.cc b/python/pyarrow/src/arrow/python/python_to_arrow.cc
index 5b83875813a..f6971bfccc0 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/src/arrow/python/python_to_arrow.cc
+++ b/python/pyarrow/src/arrow/python/python_to_arrow.cc
@@ -841,7 +841,11 @@ class PyListConverter : public ListConverter<T, PyConverter, PyConverterTrait> {
     if (PyValue::IsNull(this->options_, value)) {
       return this->list_builder_->AppendNull();
     }
-    if (has_numpy() && PyArray_Check(value)) {
+    if (arrow::py::is_scalar(value)) {
+      ARROW_ASSIGN_OR_RAISE(std::shared_ptr<Scalar> scalar,
+                            arrow::py::unwrap_scalar(value));
+      RETURN_NOT_OK(this->list_builder_->AppendScalar(GetStorageScalar(*scalar)));
+    } else if (has_numpy() && PyArray_Check(value)) {
       RETURN_NOT_OK(AppendNdarray(value));
     } else if (PySequence_Check(value)) {
       RETURN_NOT_OK(AppendSequence(value));
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/tests/test_convert_builtin.py b/python/pyarrow/tests/test_convert_builtin.py
index 3ac7be88eaa..d35ac1a77bb 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/tests/test_convert_builtin.py
+++ b/python/pyarrow/tests/test_convert_builtin.py
@@ -2552,6 +2552,11 @@ def test_array_from_pylist_offset_overflow():
      pa.list_view(pa.int64())),
     ([["a", "b"]], [pa.scalar(["a", "b"], type=pa.list_view(pa.string()))],
      pa.list_view(pa.string())),
+    # GH-40319: null list scalars
+    ([None, [1]], [pa.scalar(None, pa.list_(pa.int64())), pa.scalar([1])],
+     pa.list_(pa.int64())),
+    ([None], [pa.scalar(None, pa.large_list(pa.int64()))],
+     pa.large_list(pa.int64())),
     (
         [1, 2, None],
         [pa.scalar(1, type=pa.int8()), pa.scalar(2, type=pa.int8()), None],