diff --git a/pandas/core/strings/accessor.py b/pandas/core/strings/accessor.py
index d50daad9a22b1..cb388b8b362d4 100644
--- a/pandas/core/strings/accessor.py
+++ b/pandas/core/strings/accessor.py
@@ -2136,7 +2136,7 @@ def wrap(self, width, **kwargs):
         return self._wrap_result(result)
 
     @forbid_nonstring_types(["bytes"])
-    def get_dummies(self, sep="|"):
+    def get_dummies(self, sep="|", dtype=np.int64):
         """
         Return DataFrame of dummy/indicator variables for Series.
 
@@ -2147,6 +2147,8 @@ def get_dummies(self, sep="|"):
         ----------
         sep : str, default "|"
             String to split on.
+        dtype : numpy.dtype, default np.int64
+            The numpy dtype to use for the result ndarray.
 
         Returns
         -------
@@ -2174,7 +2176,7 @@ def get_dummies(self, sep="|"):
         """
         # we need to cast to Series of strings as only that has all
         # methods available for making the dummies...
-        result, name = self._data.array._str_get_dummies(sep)
+        result, name = self._data.array._str_get_dummies(sep, dtype=dtype)
         return self._wrap_result(
             result,
             name=name,
diff --git a/pandas/core/strings/object_array.py b/pandas/core/strings/object_array.py
index f884264e9ab75..a992c078200dd 100644
--- a/pandas/core/strings/object_array.py
+++ b/pandas/core/strings/object_array.py
@@ -354,7 +354,7 @@ def _str_wrap(self, width, **kwargs):
         tw = textwrap.TextWrapper(**kwargs)
         return self._str_map(lambda s: "\n".join(tw.wrap(s)))
 
-    def _str_get_dummies(self, sep="|"):
+    def _str_get_dummies(self, sep="|", dtype=np.int64):
         from pandas import Series
 
         arr = Series(self).fillna("")
@@ -368,7 +368,7 @@ def _str_get_dummies(self, sep="|"):
             tags.update(ts)
         tags2 = sorted(tags - {""})
 
-        dummies = np.empty((len(arr), len(tags2)), dtype=np.int64)
+        dummies = np.empty((len(arr), len(tags2)), dtype=dtype)
 
         for i, t in enumerate(tags2):
             pat = sep + t + sep