diff --git a/autoload/gitgutter/diff.vim b/autoload/gitgutter/diff.vim
index 3d7b1a5..3b18777 100644
--- a/autoload/gitgutter/diff.vim
+++ b/autoload/gitgutter/diff.vim
@@ -132,7 +132,9 @@ function! gitgutter#diff#run_diff(realtime, preserve_full_diff)
     " Note that when `cmd` doesn't produce any output, i.e. the diff is empty,
     " the `stdout` event is not fired on the job handler.  Therefore we keep
     " track of the jobs ourselves so we can spot empty diffs.
-    let job_id = jobstart(split(&shell) + ['-c', cmd], {
+
+    let job_cmd = &shell . ' -c ' . cmd
+    let job_id = jobstart(job_cmd, {
           \ 'on_stdout': function('gitgutter#handle_diff_job'),
           \ 'on_stderr': function('gitgutter#handle_diff_job'),
           \ 'on_exit':   function('gitgutter#handle_diff_job')