diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/system/cron.py b/lib/ansible/modules/system/cron.py
index 949094d0f70..6aca8a7fd04 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/system/cron.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/system/cron.py
@@ -476,7 +476,7 @@ class CronTab(object):
                 return "%s -l %s" % (pipes.quote(CRONCMD), pipes.quote(self.user))
             elif platform.system() == 'HP-UX':
                 return "%s %s %s" % (CRONCMD , '-l', pipes.quote(self.user))
-            else:
+            elif os.getlogin() != self.user:
                 user = '-u %s' % pipes.quote(self.user)
         return "%s %s %s" % (CRONCMD , user, '-l')
 
@@ -488,7 +488,7 @@ class CronTab(object):
         if self.user:
             if platform.system() in ['SunOS', 'HP-UX', 'AIX']:
                 return "chown %s %s ; su '%s' -c '%s %s'" % (pipes.quote(self.user), pipes.quote(path), pipes.quote(self.user), CRONCMD, pipes.quote(path))
-            else:
+            elif os.getlogin() != self.user:
                 user = '-u %s' % pipes.quote(self.user)
         return "%s %s %s" % (CRONCMD , user, pipes.quote(path))