diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/compute/exec.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/compute/exec.cc
index c3187a3995a..b88248071c2 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/compute/exec.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/compute/exec.cc
@@ -704,6 +704,7 @@ class ScalarExecutor : public KernelExecutorImpl<ScalarKernel> {
     preallocate_contiguous_ =
         (exec_context()->preallocate_contiguous() && kernel_->can_write_into_slices &&
          validity_preallocated_ && !is_nested(output_descr_.type->id()) &&
+         !is_dictionary(output_descr_.type->id()) &&
          data_preallocated_.size() == static_cast<size_t>(output_num_buffers_ - 1) &&
          std::all_of(data_preallocated_.begin(), data_preallocated_.end(),
                      [](const BufferPreallocation& prealloc) {
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/compute/kernels/scalar_cast_nested.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/compute/kernels/scalar_cast_nested.cc
index 2592b77ab66..1d81be48288 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/compute/kernels/scalar_cast_nested.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/compute/kernels/scalar_cast_nested.cc
@@ -118,7 +118,12 @@ std::vector<std::shared_ptr<CastFunction>> GetNestedCasts() {
   auto cast_struct = std::make_shared<CastFunction>("cast_struct", Type::STRUCT);
   AddCommonCasts(Type::STRUCT, kOutputTargetType, cast_struct.get());
 
-  return {cast_list, cast_large_list, cast_fsl, cast_struct};
+  // So is dictionary
+  auto cast_dictionary =
+      std::make_shared<CastFunction>("cast_dictionary", Type::DICTIONARY);
+  AddCommonCasts(Type::DICTIONARY, kOutputTargetType, cast_dictionary.get());
+
+  return {cast_list, cast_large_list, cast_fsl, cast_struct, cast_dictionary};
 }
 
 }  // namespace internal
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/compute/kernels/scalar_cast_test.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/compute/kernels/scalar_cast_test.cc
index 10e5ed26e5d..6efecbb2ad0 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/compute/kernels/scalar_cast_test.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/compute/kernels/scalar_cast_test.cc
@@ -1782,6 +1782,14 @@ TEST(Cast, FromNull) {
   }
 }
 
+TEST(Cast, FromNullToDictionary) {
+  auto from = std::make_shared<NullArray>(10);
+  auto to_type = dictionary(int8(), boolean());
+
+  ASSERT_OK_AND_ASSIGN(auto expected, MakeArrayOfNull(to_type, 10));
+  CheckCast(from, expected);
+}
+
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Test casting from DictionaryType
 
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/tests/test_array.py b/python/pyarrow/tests/test_array.py
index 01ee2977fec..37d69363816 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/tests/test_array.py
+++ b/python/pyarrow/tests/test_array.py
@@ -1358,12 +1358,13 @@ def test_cast_from_null():
         pa.struct([pa.field('a', pa.int32()),
                    pa.field('b', pa.list_(pa.int8())),
                    pa.field('c', pa.string())]),
+        pa.dictionary(pa.int32(), pa.string()),
     ]
     for out_type in out_types:
         _check_cast_case((in_data, in_type, in_data, out_type))
 
     out_types = [
-        pa.dictionary(pa.int32(), pa.string()),
+
         pa.union([pa.field('a', pa.binary(10)),
                   pa.field('b', pa.string())], mode=pa.lib.UnionMode_DENSE),
         pa.union([pa.field('a', pa.binary(10)),
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/tests/test_dataset.py b/python/pyarrow/tests/test_dataset.py
index 6ca6b095936..7688cf78ac7 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/tests/test_dataset.py
+++ b/python/pyarrow/tests/test_dataset.py
@@ -3156,3 +3156,24 @@ def test_write_dataset_s3(s3_example_simple):
         "mybucket/dataset3", filesystem=fs, format="ipc", partitioning="hive"
     ).to_table()
     assert result.equals(table)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parquet
+def test_dataset_null_to_dictionary_cast(tempdir):
+    # ARROW-12420
+    import pyarrow.parquet as pq
+
+    table = pa.table({"a": [None, None]})
+    pq.write_table(table, tempdir / "test.parquet")
+
+    schema = pa.schema([
+        pa.field("a", pa.dictionary(pa.int32(), pa.string()))
+    ])
+    fsds = ds.FileSystemDataset.from_paths(
+        paths=[tempdir / "test.parquet"],
+        schema=schema,
+        format=ds.ParquetFileFormat(),
+        filesystem=fs.LocalFileSystem(),
+    )
+    table = fsds.to_table()
+    assert table.schema == schema